Happiness - Love and Affection: Replaceable or Irreplaceable Need?

In my previous article titled, "Happiness - Needs That Make You Feel Anxious Now Defined," we have come to the conclusion that our needs—which are all relative—divide themselves into two categories: replaceable needs and irreplaceable needs.

With this thesis in mind, we then asked ourselves the following questions:

• Do we absolutely need the uninterrupted, permanent, and exclusive love, approval, and acceptance of anyone to be happy?
  

• While this love, approval, and acceptance can contribute to our happiness, are these elements indispensable, essential, and necessary for us to be happy?
  

In other words, in everyday life, do we have an irreplaceable need for the love and affection of our romantic partner to live happily?

If you are tempted to answer "yes" to this question, then I cordially invite you to think about all those years during which your romantic partner did not love you at all—namely, all those years before you and your romantic partner officially met with each other.

Considering the fact that this person didn’t know you at all during those years, it then logically follows that he or she couldn’t love you—not even an atom or a split second! Don’t you agree?

Realize this: Twenty, thirty, or forty years have elapsed before this person really started to feel some kind of love or affection for you. Now, during those years, has your life been a long misery, an endless agony, a cruel torture? Most probably not!

On the other hand, since the very moment this person started to feel some kind of love or affection for you, has your life been decorated with endless happiness? Once again, most probably not!

Here’s the final reality check: Is it possible for a human being to love one another nonstop and without failure? Alas, the answer is still  "no" for these two items.

Let’s face it: There is really no need for us to edify a complex and convoluted theory. As a matter of fact, our lives eloquently attest that we do not have the irreplaceable need for the uninterrupted, permanent, and exclusive love, approval, and acceptance of anyone—and not even some degree of these elements—to be happy.

In conclusion, here is a good nail for us to drive into the coffin of our ideas and beliefs that are at the root of our anxiety:

We really don’t need the uninterrupted, permanent, and exclusive love, approval, and acceptance of anyone to live happily on this earth. While this affection can be highly useful, not only will it never be absolutely necessary to our happiness, but it will always be replaceable either by the affection of another person, either by a host of other elements that can bring us some pleasure and happiness.

Now, it is important for us to remember that the word replaceable in no way means superfluous or useless... and that is what I suggest we explore together in a future article.