A part of the ‘On Second Thought‘ series

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We often talk about love like it’s easy. Gentle. Healing.

But the truth is — to love deeply is to be brave.
Because real love doesn’t come without risk.
It stretches us. Wounds us. Changes us.

In my latest blog, I explore what it means to love not in spite of pain, but through it.
Why the courage to stay open — even when it hurts — might just be the most powerful thing we can do.

Read now: The Power to Love: Courage to Know Pain

By: Ezra Nadav

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We speak of love like it’s soft.
We call it a balm, a light, a healing force.
And it is.

But to truly love—to really, vulnerably, painfully love—requires more than tenderness.
It requires courage.

The kind of courage that lets pain walk in the door and sit at your table.
The kind that doesn’t turn away when loss becomes the price of connection.
Because love, real love, is not safe.

To love is to stand exposed.
It is to let someone see you—and maybe, someday, to let them leave you too.
It is to build something knowing it could fall apart.
And to show up again anyway.

There’s a quiet heroism in that.
Not the kind that wins medals or headlines, but the kind that keeps hearts beating.
The courage to love is not found in the absence of pain.
It’s found in choosing to keep our hearts open because of the pain we’ve known.

Most of us learn love alongside heartbreak.
We carry the ghosts of people we’ve lost, of versions of ourselves we had to outgrow.
Somewhere along the way, we start to believe love and pain are opposites.
But they’re not.
They are twins—born of the same risk, wrapped in the same ache.

Love expands us.
And anything that expands us has the power to split us wide open.

The ache of love is a sacred ache.
It is the mark of having let something matter.
And that’s not weakness.
That’s proof of life.

So when the world tries to teach us to guard, to shrink, to go numb,
let us choose otherwise.
Let us choose presence over protection.
Let us risk the breaking in order to feel the beauty.

Because yes, love hurts.
But what a wondrous hurt it is.
To know someone. To let them know you.
To stay when it’s hard.
To forgive.
To be forgiven.

The power to love is not measured by how much joy we feel.
It is measured by how much pain we’re willing to hold…
without closing the door behind us.

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Shalom Aleichem

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