.SOMETIMES RAW.

I’ve done it. I trained for a fitness test with my super fancy watch. It can track, watch, maintain, observe, and highlight every single thing with and within my body 24/7. Everything, you guys. With this watch and after years of research, I have become “optimal” (as my watch calls it). I am an optimal woman/human/person/racoon or whatever you want to call me. I glance at my watch first thing in the morning. But even when my eyes are still closed my watch wakes me up to tell me that:

Your Body fat percentage, optimal! Good morning!

I hide under the blankets one more time and try to ignore the watch but it is synched with my phone which rings to tell me that:

Your Body fat percentage, optimal. Triglycerides, optimal. Dietary fiber, weekly activity levels, resting heart rate, 365-day meditation app on, all optimal. Get up! Start your day in “Downward-Facing-Dog”!

I get up, slightly annoyed but at least now I can spend the next one hundred years staying optimal until I die. At least that!

Thank you, watch (and phone).

With this optimal health, I could go for a long hike on a moonlit mountain trail, watching my step counter the entire way. Even before I have to drive to work! Oh, my watch just reminded me to eat my daily dosage of supplements (15 each for breakfast, lunch, and dinner). Done!

I step out in my garden to feel the still chilly morning sun warm my face and rush back inside to use my sun lamp (the phone suggested I buy this one), to stimulate Vitamin D production without skin damage. Hello, skin cancer!

So I sit motionless on the floor of my empty minimalistic room (the watch suggested throwing everything away in Marie-Kondo-style so I can finally breathe, have more space, and focus on the things that really matter), enjoying the perfect harmony between my Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids.

My phone suggests a new job – something creative, fun, and meaningful. The challenge of a lifetime. My own bookstore! I deleted the suggestion because it lacked the optimal combination of ten thousand daily steps, standing, adequate income, and zero stress that I enjoy so much at my current job.

My watch just alerted me that my heart rate went up. Must have been the thought of going to work after all. Let’s get up and have breakfast, my brain tells me. There is still some leftover cake in the fridge. My watch instantly reminds me that I have not eaten cake in 423 days which is a good thing to keep my blood sugar low and predicts that I will live at least 120 optimal, diabetes but cake-free years.

The other day, my son made muffins and I licked the frosting and told him how good it was because emotional connection optimizes mental health. But I secretly spit it out since frosting’s nutrient profile is suboptimal.

I don’t buy or eat anything that contains artificial sugar anymore. Like zero. Like nothing at all. My son asks me to buy chocolate I scream, “NO, it is not healthy. My watch tells me NOT to eat it!” My son wants to be Charly and live in the Chocolate Factory at this point. Okay, well, his choice. Off he goes. The Ompa Loompa’s can raise him. All the better, as it frees up my time and income for optimizing my health. Without a child, I could downsize and spend the extra money on daily out-of-pocket blood or urine tests or for personal training sessions with fitness guru Mat Fraser and his GOWOD app to optimize my health.

I used to get blood work at my yearly physical, and the results were always healthy. But then I would wonder if my LDL cholesterol from last month was still optimal, and my next doctor’s appointment was months away. And I couldn’t schedule a new one until after I finished the anniversary dinner or my son’s Taekwondo competition or whatever.

But now, every morning after the forty-five-minute self-administered blood draws and uploads on my watch and phone, I look at my biomarkers exactly in the optimal range and feel warm inside, which is either happiness or my supercharged mitochondria. Regardless, according to the latest research, they are biologically indistinguishable.

I feel sad for the suboptimal. Yesterday I saw a poor girl in the grocery store pointing to a loaf of fresh French bread, saying, “Mommy! Mommy! Let’s buy this, it looks so yummy and smells so good!” I shook my head at the thought of the processed white flour and nonexistent fiber but tons of carbs. I choose the optimal bread by scanning the aisle for the brownest, gnarliest, chia-and-all seeds in the world-covered loaf I would find.

It is morning. I rise from my custom-built cedar-wood bed in my bedroom, with its blackout curtains and climate control set to three degrees Celsius and 38 percent humidity, to optimize my 9.3 hours of deep REM sleep. The prospect of another perfectly optimal day has my mitochondria quivering in anticipation. Ah, what’s this? I didn’t know my smartwatch and phone analyzed sleep. Sleep score of 93. Pretty good. But not optimal. I stagger out of my house but quickly get over the shock. I prepare myself for optimizing as long as it takes while checking my watch again for my blood oxygen level and didn’t notice a garbage truck approaching, and it is going pretty faaaaast………..

Blue heart, orange heart, purple heart, green heart, white heart, red heart, yellow heart, black heart… Do you know the different heart emojis, their meanings, and how to use a colored heart emoji in a text? The various colourful heart emojis are used by today’s generation almost all the time. It’s sad and safe to say that one day, we’ll be able to shorten all human interactions through technology to emojis alone!

What do the colourful heart emojis mean?

If you find yourself scratching your head and wondering about these heart emoji meanings, fear not. So I asked a bunch of text experts in my closer circle of friends about the different kinds and what they symbolize so that you can stay on top of your text game and don’t have to do a plethora of research.

1. Blue heart 💙

The blue heart emoji can be used for a variety of emotions and meanings. On the one hand, they symbolize a deep attraction. Think deep waters, mysterious oceans, and stability. This heart emoji should be reserved for someone whom you feel unfathomable depths of meaningful connection with.

On the other hand, they also symbolize something much filthier. People use blue emoji hearts to express enjoyment in sexual water sports and indicate a fetish for BDSM. 

With that, the blue heart emojis should be used with caution — you should be aware of the double meaning of this one and be attentive to the context in which you use them so that people know what your intent is!

2. Green heart 💚

Many people use the green heart emoji to show a connection with a much greener, healthier side of themselves. They express their spiritual side that feels connected to Mother Nature and an earthiness that encompasses them. The green heart is great for anyone with a green thumb.

It’s regularly used by vegetarians and vegans. Use the green heart emoji mindfully, as this heart signifies possessiveness or jealousy in relationships as well. Or used to find love on St. Patrick’s Day on various dating apps and Instagram.

3. Yellow heart 💛

The yellow heart emoji symbolizes the purity of the heart. They are synonymous with new beginnings, youth, sunshine, spring, purity, and strength. These are all great personality traits to have that you may want to express to the person on the receiving end of your texts. This heart is the simplest way of doing that.

The colour yellow itself radiates and conveys a burst of light, hope, and clarity. This emoji is the closest colour to gold, so it, therefore, means a heart of gold. Use it to demonstrate your warmth of character.

4. Purple heart 💜

This heart emoji is regularly used to portray glamour or wealth. This colour means regality and power in many countries and different cultures. It’s already an intense, rich-looking colour, so it’s not surprising that it often symbolizes royalty.

This emoji can also show your flirty, sparkling personality and communicate to your partner that you prefer the finer things in life.

I also heard that those in the military and armed forces also send this emoji to their loved ones as it demonstrates the attributes of duty, honour, and compassion.

5. Orange heart 🧡

Orange is a very strong and energetic colour. It can be very attention-grabbing, so it’s often used in advertising. However, in the digital world, the orange heart represents happiness and enthusiasm. Since orange is a controversial colour, people either love this emoji or hate it. 

The colour orange is also associated with warmth and light, so you may also send an orange heart emoji to express feelings of care and comfort. When you want to show support to your friend, send them a few orange hearts.

The emoji is also known as the coward’s red heart, as it is used when you want to send a red heart but don’t have the courage to.

This emoji is also linked to the fall as the colour of pumpkins and dying leaves. This heart emoji is most used during the Halloween season.

6. Red heart ❤️

As we all universally recognize, this classic heart is synonymous with true love. It represents passion, deep connection, romance, friendship, and unconditional love. It can be used in romantic and non-romantic situations, as it is often sent to friends and family at the end of text messages.

This blood-red love heart emoji is no doubt the appropriate heart to use to convey an all-around sense of pure love. Awe! If you want to go even crazier, send the red heart with the flame.

7. Black heart 🖤

The black heart emoji has so many meanings. It’s the perfect emoji for when you’re feeling down and misunderstood. You may see people posting emotional captions using this black heart or when they want to make a dark humour joke. Also, if you’re a goth, this is your go-to emoji.

However, the black heart is used increasingly to show support for the black lives matter movement. 

8. Sparkling heart 💖

This heart is a way to symbolize intense love or wearing your heart on your sleeve. It represents a sparkling personality out there for everyone to see. I have not used this one so far but should due to my sparkling personality.

9. Two hearts emoji 💕

The two hearts emoji is also referred to as small hearts or two pink hearts. This one features red or pink hearts, with one bigger heart at the bottom or in front and a second smaller heart up and off to the right or behind the first.

This emoji is often used to express affection, pleasure, or joy. Not only does this heart symbolize romantic love, but it can also be used for other close relationships, like family and friends. 

11. Envelope heart 💌

Some look at this emoji and assume it symbolizes a love letter or a concealed kind of love. Sadly, it’s usually just used for online payments or orders within dating apps. It can probably be used to represent something more profound, but the connotations already associated with it are almost too difficult to avoid.

If you’re interested in someone, texting them this emoji just confuses them *unless you purchase something from them*. When The Beatles first said, “money can’t buy me love”, they were probably right.

12. Bow heart 💝

The pink heart wrapped in a bow is such an underrated colourful heart emoji. This emoji conveys love as a gift. It also implies that your heart should be protected and treasured.

Send this emoji to someone you trust and feel safe around. It’s the perfect way to show your devotion and appreciation in return for this person’s affection and kindness. You know that your heart is safe in their hands, and they won’t ever break it. And if they do, call me.

13. Arrow heart 💘

This colourful heart with arrow emoji reminds us of Cupid. Cupid who? He’s the Roman god of love and is usually portrayed as a young boy with wings and a bow and arrow. 

The meaning behind the arrow heart emoji is that the sender feels such strong romantic feelings and is falling in love as if they’ve been shot with Cupid’s bow. 

It represents the beginning of a passionate relationship, aka the honeymoon phase when both of you just can’t get enough of each other.

Use this at the start of a romance to show you are crazy about them or send this emoji to your Valentine. Whoever receives this emoji will know how fast and hard you’ve fallen for them. You don’t send this heart to someone you don’t romantically have feelings for. Like ever! Like NEVER EVER!

14. Exclamation heart ❣️

This emoji is a red heart on top of a red dot, resembling an exclamation point. This is the perfect emoji to use when you wholeheartedly agree with someone. The emoji was created also to show excitement when you’re super enthusiastic and passionate about a topic.

So instead of that boring exclamation point, try the heart exclamation instead, nerd!

15. Broken heart 💔

The broken heart emoji is a red heart with a crack in the middle. What this heart represents is pretty obvious. It’s used when your or somebody’s heart is broken by a person or situation. However, this emoji can also be used as a sarcastic joke.

16. Revolving hearts 💞

Finally, on this list of colourful heart emojis is the revolving hearts emoji. This one is quite similar to the two hearts emoji, except for two small lines that indicate the two small pink hearts are orbiting each other or spinning in a circle.

This emoji tells an animated tale of love, affection, or happiness. The revolving hearts also show reciprocated love for someone.

Now you know the meanings of the different colourful heart emojis. Okay, there is also a brown heart but I mean, c’mon. Nobody sends a brown heart which could be easily mistaken for the poo-emoji. Unless you want intend to send it. Make sure you remember the heart emoji etiquette.

Do you want to read more? Read my recent artilce on Emoji Thumbs up.

“I am so small,” said the boy. “Yes, but you make a huge difference. What do you want to be when you grow up?” she asked. “Kind”, said the boy.

“What do you think success is?” asked the boy. “To love,” she said.

“Do you have a favourite saying?” asked the boy. “Yes, I do. If at first you don’t succeed, have some cake.” “Does it work?” “Every time,” she said.

“What do you think is the biggest waste of time?” asked the boy. “Comparing yourself to others. I wonder if there is a school of unlearning. Most of the time I wish I had listened less to my fears and more to my dreams,” she said.

“What is that over there?” asked the boy while pointing at the distance. “It is the wild,” she said. “Don’t fear it. Imagine how we would be if we were less afraid.”

“One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things. I have learned how to be in the present,” she said. “How?”, asked the boy. “I find a quiet spot and shut my eyes and breathe. Then I focus,” she said. “What do you focus on?” “Cake,” she said.

“Isn’t it odd. We can only see our outsides, but nearly everything happens on the inside,” she said.

“So many beautiful things we need to look after. Being kind to yourself is one of the greatest kindnesses,” he said. “We often wait of kindness… but being kind to yourself can start now,” she said.

“Often the hardest person to forgive is yourself,” she said.

“Sometimes I feel lost,” said the boy. “Me too,” she said, “but I love you, and love brings you home. Always. I think everyone is just trying to get home,” she added.

“Doing nothing with my friends is never doing nothing, is it?” asked the boy. “No,” she said.

“I fell and it hurts,” he said and cried. “You fell, but I have got you,” she said. “Everyone is a bit scared to try new things but we are less scared together. Tears fall for a reason and they are your strength not weakness,” she said.

“What is the bravest thing you have ever said?” asked the boy. “Help,” she said.

“When have you been at your strongest?” asked the boy. “When I have dared to show my weakness. Asking for help isn’t giving up. It is refusing to give up,” she said.

“My teacher said we all need a reason to keep going. What is yours?” he asked. “You,” she said.

“I have discovered something better than cake,” he said. “What is it?” she asked. “A hug. It lasts longer,” he said.

“Sometimes just getting up and carrying on is brave and magnificent,” she said.

“How do these ducks look so together and perfect while floating around?” he asked. “There is a lot of frantic paddling going on beneath. The greatest illusion is that life should be perfect. Because it is not. Always be curious,” she said.

“Sometimes I think you believe in me more than I do,” said the boy. “You will catch up,” she said.

“A friend of mine never really speaks a lot and I asked him why,” said the boy. “He said that he often feels that he has nothing interesting to say,” he added. “But being honest is always interesting. There is never nothing going on,” she said.

“Sometimes all you hear about is hate but there is more love in this world than you could possibly imagine,” she said.

“Is your glass half empty or half full?” asked the boy. “I think I am grateful to have a glass,” she said.

“What will happen tomorrow if my friend does not show up?” he asked. “We don’t know about tomorrow. We will see. All we need to do is focus on the here and now,” she said.

“When the dark clouds come, keep going,” she said. “What do you mean?” he asked. “When the big things feel out of control, focus on what you love right under your nose. You! This storm will pass,” she said.

“We still have such a long way to go,” sighed the boy. “Yes, but look how far we have come,” she said.

“What is your best discovery?” asked the boy. “That I am enough as I am,” she said.

“What do we do when our hearts hurt?” asked the boy. “We wrap them with friendship, shared tears and time, till they wake hopeful and happy again,” she said.

“Do you have one more advice?” asked the boy. “Don’t measure how valuable you are by the way you are treated. Always remember you matter, you are important and you are loved and you bring to this world things no one else can,” she said.