Is love enough?

I wondered that sometimes. Is love enough to sustain a relationship? Is it enough to keep you holding on? I have found myself asking that question everyday for the last two years. Reflecting on my past relationships and trying to understand why I put up with what I put up with, I found that it was low self esteem. But during the times I was going through these trials I had convinced myself that “love” was all I needed and it was enough. But was it enough? Was it enough to ignore the emotional abuse I endured? Constantly hearing that I don’t deserve to be treated well because I messed up and he was doing me a favor just talking to me? Hearing I wasn’t good enough, happy enough, passive, I was too strong, too opinionated, complained more than the others even though I was treated the best. LOL!!! That makes me laugh now but low self esteem will have you doing some foolish things. I couldn’t understand why I didn’t appreciate this man the way I should surely he was a good man. I’m digressing and I will leave this for another entry. Back to the matter at hand, I wondered was love enough to allow myself to be pushed past a point where I had lost all respect for myself? I mean they say love is worth fighting for, right? But at some point I learned that particular battle was not worth the fight. At some point we have to realize that love cannot and will not keep a relationship together. Just because two people love each other does not mean they need to be together. Relationships have to have MUTUAL respect, understanding and it has to be headed toward the same outcome, i.e. you both have to want the same thing, and you can’t want a booty call while he is looking for a wife. It is a lesson I learned the hard way, trying to work it out for the sake of “my man” for the sake of our love, because I knew I could make him happy like no other and I knew he loved me more than those other ones, holding on to him for dear life, hoping that one day after all the waiting, after all the pain, after all the tears, and phone calls from other women telling me my man was their man, he would wake up and appreciate what he had in me and those other ones were just his play things and he would be finished playing. He would see I was a good woman and I was the only one that would make him happy just like he was the only one that could float my boat. It never happened and why would it he wasn’t ready to change. I didn’t hate him for it nor did I fault him because at the end of the day I put up with the bullshit. I have learned that people change when they are ready and if they feel it’s necessary. Sometimes you have to just let it go because if you don’t you will be waiting forever wasting your life away, slowly falling deeper and deeper into an abyss of self doubt and low self esteem. Falling so deep that you can never pull yourself out and you endure the mistreatment forever. There is a feeling that anything worth having is worth fighting for, but we have to pick and choose our battles. And if one day you say enough is enough and stop waiting for them to come around and begin to pick up the pieces, it doesn’t mean you love them any less it just means you love you much more.