There aren't many concepts in human life as complex and multifaceted as that of love. Just saying the word brings about a sense of power and awe. Most of the time, love is instantly associated with romance - age-old stories of die-hard lovers battling the odds of life together solely for the sake of staying together. Each one knowing that they couldn't (or wouldn't anyway) even desire to continue to forge through the perils of living without the other keeps their bond solidly unified until the end.
Even death doesn't separate some romantic lovers from their feelings - the living left to fumble through a world that should be so familiar. When one half of the union passes on into the next realm, the "survivor" strives to relearn everything that they were encouraged to take for granted for so long. It's a sad, sad thing to be left lonely and alone - aging and forced to endure.
Of course, romantic love isn't the only form of love. It's not even necessarily the most powerful. Many other types of love exist. There is the love for your family (which coincidently is often just a misconception of personal responsibility brought about by a shared bloodline). There is the love of the good-natured spiritual leaders like Jesus Christ and the Buddha. Some people feel a natural love for the children of the world - their innocence being the only necessary prerequisite for the emotion's bestowal. Others love the animals of the planet with the same type of non-need for reciprocation. Whatever the classification, love is something that cannot be denied or revoked - at least not without a high degree of suffered neglect or malicious intention.
Some people choose to stop loving another or others because of their needs to develop themselves. They may feel that they have to give too much of their energy to their love relationships and therefore end them. And sometimes that is exactly what is best for all involved. Love is often mistaken for a fear of loneliness or abandonment. Some people fear being alone so much that they will profess love for another even in its total and known absence. This happens when the person proclaiming the false love has never learned the most beneficial and wonderful love classification of all: self love.
If you do not take the intentional and regular time out to develop self love, then you are bound to endure a screwed-up life until you (hopefully someday) do. For people of confidence, it is a well known fact that if you do not love yourself first and foremost - above all else or others - then you will never develop to your fullest potential. If you are not developed as an individual, what do you really have to offer another? You must treat yourself in loving ways all of the time!
That doesn't mean that you should act high-n-mighty or be arrogant; it means that it is only healthy to value yourself and express love to yourself. When you do so, you become a more holistically stable person. You grow as a human being of kindness and compassion. You demand respect for yourself and you offer it more freely to others. People who do not love themselves enough to develop to their fullest potential are stealing from those that they may enter into (romantic or otherwise) relationships with. They are stealing the full, solid love that could result with another if they were more fully developed within themselves. They make the other settle to be with a person that is less than what he or she could be.
Regardless of the type of love that you are after, begin with exploring all of the ways to love yourself first. That is what is important. That is what will last forever. Love yourself like you want somebody else to love you. It will make you blossom into a fully developed individual who is able and ready to love another in return!