Words by Shayni Solanki
Get your tickets to Winter Wonderland ready because it seems like romance is back on the menu.
It’s always seemed to be a thing – cuffing yourself off for winter. Everyone wants to be single in the summer but the minute it starts getting dark and cold, we’re all cuffed.
Our generation has always seemed to have a disdain for the modern definition of romance. There’s a constant reminiscing over what love was a few decades ago, when none of us ever actually experienced 90s love.
Look, times will always change. It’s no longer a time for sending letters to each other or standing outside your lover’s room with a boombox.
We can blame phones and social media all we want, but maybe we’re just lazy. Sure, it has a lot to do with phones making communication easier, but no one is stopping you from writing a love letter.
For our generation, romance hasn’t died – it’s just changed. Expectations are different now than they were 30 years ago. You’ll never have the same relationship that your parents had because the matter of the fact is that the world is completely different.
Women now have more of an opportunity to work and study full-time, so men no longer are put in a box to just provide. Back then, a lot of women had to settle down and choose a man that made the big bucks to support their family.
It’s a lot better for us all now. Women aren’t forced to be homemakers anymore, and men aren’t obliged to take on all the financial responsibilities. You can choose what you want to be in your relationship.
I’ll be honest, for a while it was looking bleak. For a few years there was a sense of ‘we don’t owe anyone anything’ flying around. Social media made people think that they had to live perfect lives with their partner, buying them designer gifts and flying around the world every week.
Lately, we’ve been seeing a shift in the way romance is perceived. Many we’re becoming more empathetic, or maybe people are just looking for a bit of joy. It could also be to do with all the bad that’s been happening in the world.
Romance shows itself in different ways. It could be when your dad instantly knows when to bring your mum a cup of tea, or it could be when your partner buys you something just because they know you like it.
Love doesn’t always mean the big gestures (they are nice though), it can just be finding that person you want to sit on the sofa with. For all the lover girls out there, patience is the answer. When the time comes, you’ll know.