3 Things I’ve Learned About Love This Year

In January, I chose “Love” as my word for the year. Six months in, here’s what it’s been teaching me in poetry and practice.

Today’s Poem

Love Is written by Kellion Knibb

Click above to listen 🎧

Love
 is the freedom
 we forget how to be.
 Wherever we go, faithful or lost,
 it finds us still
 in the company we keep.

Love
 is a tool—
 a softness strong enough to undo 
 a millennia of hardness
 that left us
 fractured,
 desolate in heart.

Love
 is a feeling
 contained only by
 the lies we tell ourselves
 to hush the ringing;
 the call to a life
 our spirit aches to live.

Love
 is the silence
 between two
 too afraid to name it,
 the hush that falls
 before vulnerability.

It floats
 on the quiet deeds of kindness,
 a slow-burning flame,
 a simmering
 of fearful desire.

Love
 is a teacher—
 a call to patience, to surrender,
 reaching past the walls
 we build around our longing,
 toward what we crave
 but fear to receive.

Love
 is the breacher of fences,
 the bridge between
 our yearning to be touched
 and our fear
 of being truly seen.

Six months into 2025, I’m pausing to reflect on my word of the year: Love.

The word came to me in late 2024, during a season marked by family, friendship, and a sense of softness. I didn’t just want to feel love, I wanted to live it. And this year, I’ve been learning how. Here are three lessons that have stayed with me:

Love is giving:

• Giving more of myself

• Giving vulnerability, trust, and hope

• Giving away fear and choosing courage because every true lover must be brave

• Giving my talents, which I’ve done through this space: Growing n Musing.

  • You can download the free fitness starter kit here.

  • And stay tuned! My new wellness kit drops soon.

  • Writing more poetry

Love is radical acceptance of life, as it is.
I've stopped forcing outcomes in my career, my relationships, and my health.

I'm learning to let things be, and in that space... love blooms.

Love is presence.

Most recently, love has meant presence. I noticed how rushed I’ve become, even in small things, like walking through the city.

So I’ve slowed down, literally. I’m walking slower. Breathing deeper. Making space to feel the love already here.

Love, as I’m learning, is not just a feeling. It’s a rhythm. A choice.

A pace I’m practicing every day.

What’s your word for the year—and how is it shaping you?

Here’s to giving more, loving slower, and living deeper.

— Kellion