In contrast to many philosophical accounts of love, which analyze it as a special kind of valuation of the beloved, or a special concern for her well-being, we elaborate on the minority observation characterizing love as making a difference to one’s whole life (endowing it with meaning). Our aim purpose is not to suggest that this is an external, one-dimensional relationship. We consider not just the difference love makes to (our perception of) life but inquire into how certain features of our life may make a difference for how we come to conceive of love. We first discuss the importance of the compartmentalization of our lives and the interplay between our lives of love and those parts of our lives that are based elsewhere. Then we focus on such tonalities and modalities of love as the sense of responsibility and perseverance. These analyses relate to the phenomenon of environmental despair (first section) and high-functioning burnout (second section), relying equally on real-life and fictional examples. We indicate possible consequences that follow from these discussions for the philosophy of love. One of these is that philosophy’s insights can be sharpened if it remains conscious of the relations between its own conceptual analyses and the approaches and findings of cultural critique and the social sciences.