love: plague or pleasure?

Love can be a touchy subject. While many of us have proposed love's ability to ruin our social and mental existence, at some point this love we so strongly despise was worth it. Love, despite the pain that often accompanies it, can be quite worth while, as it has the potential to bring us to the happiest and most sincere memories we possess. Love has this uncanny ability to swallow us whole and engulf us in its state of infatuation and lust, even if we very well know it could end in heartbreak.

The point? The point is that even though love can be painful, developing physically and emotionally with another person while sharing our most intimate details is a process that cannot be replaced by any other event, feeling, or place. Love is unique, and despite its apparent cons, love helps us grow and evolve. We mature, learn what to say (and what not to say) and how to say it, we learn to give and receive, and we hand over a part of ourselves in exchange for a piece of our counterpart. Love is a journey that is well equipped with ups and downs, as is any other adventure, yet where we end up is nowhere near where we began. We move forward (or backward), and we learn. Have you learned from a relationship or realized you moved forward or backward from where you began? Everything considered, would you consider love a pleasure or a plague?