Sometimes we confuse being desired by many people with being deeply loved by anyone.
Field Notes
We learn how to be wanted: how to dress, flirt, enter a room, and become the kind of person others want beside them. Attention can feel like love because it is warm, flattering, and immediate.
But being wanted is not being known. A room can turn toward us while no one comes close enough to see who we are when the performance ends. The danger is not wanting to be beautiful. It is mistaking desire for proof that we are loved.