Sabreehna S. Essien, MPH

Author: Sabreehna S. Essien, MPH

A Native to the Pacific Northwest, Sabreehna is American with Kenyan descent. Sabreehna holds a Master of Public Health and is a small business owner. She currently studies Marriage Family Therapy at Northcentral University and graduates in 2024. Sabreehna is a wife and mother of two boys. Sabreehna enjoys a good book, travel, fashion, nature hikes, and time with her husband and children. Sabreehna dreams of building schools, health clinics, community centers, and affordable housing in rural parts of Africa.

Exhale…..it has been awhile since I have written on my site. Of course the topic on my mind right now is LOVE. I wonder if there will ever be a moment where this topic escapes me…probable not. Love is a risky endeavor that is far far beyond being an emotion. Admittedly LOVE stirs powerful and at times intoxicating emotions. But ask yourself what joy can there ever be without LOVE. I have concluded that LOVE, joy, and tears are a family or sorts. We can be brought to tears by those we love the most and yet feel elating joy simultaneously.

Is This Love…Bob Marley comes to mind and his voice ringing in my mind singing this love song that never gets old.

LOVE and commitment…been dating on-line since “my type” seems to be far far from my community in Washington being nearly 7 million people…go figure. It has been a very interesting journey actually and has really enforced the important discipline of articulating who I am, what my goals are, and what my expectations are in my future mate. It has also really sharpened my writing skills which is a great plus actually not to mention the use of other languages that I have learned through the years. One thing though about on-line dating is the false sense of intimacy that is created initially.

When you normally meet someone of interest depending on the circumstances a glance and eye contact occur. It is really amazing how much information eyes coming into view of each other can make in literally seconds. One look is enough to stir your mind to recall that look and all it took in at that moment. Then there are times you may have constant contact with the person of interest to the extent you feel free to exchange numbers. After several hours of talk time it does not take long to place the person of interest in friend zone or potential spouse on a probationary period until further investigation reveals otherwise.

Well with on-line dating you start out seeing a person picture, next their profile, and you may then look for more pictures to paint a visual of who, what, and where. Then there is the first message or contact which usually is a compliment about what you have learned about the person thus far reading their profile. Next ,depending on how the dialogue chemistry flows, is the exchange of emails, phone numbers, skype ID, and all other means and forms of communication to continue getting to know each other. During this process it does not take long for a person to get eliminated from ones life period.

It is an interesting journey indeed that requires just as much when dating in your community. However most on-line relationships are long distance and indeed force a couple to dig deep as far as building trust, accountability, and the sharing of ones life with someone who is taking nearly all your personal free-time (or internet time) while simultaneously navigating all other activities. We do live in the day and age of multitasking so one can be in a long distance conversation while going about daily activities without literally stopping to physically acknowledge the person face to face and providing them your entire attention unless of course you are video chatting.

In conclusion…my journey goes on and at some point, the right point, our (me and my future husband) ships will sail safely into the harbor of shared love and commitment, establish our family, and be fruitful and multiply.

LOVE is amazing and loving a person exclusively is an enriching, powerful, painful, joyful, liberating, and risk taking endeavor. It is not for the faint at heart.