How To Know When You’re Truly In Love
By Hope Kumor
We define “love” in different ways. We love our family simply because they’re blood, our friends for always being there, our co-workers for taking on a project when we’ve got too much on our plate, our animals for giving support and companionship and our significant other for remaining faithful. You see, we don’t just love one person in this world, we love multiple others at the same time. But, when it comes to love, there is a huge difference between simply being “in love” and “loving someone.”
I love my family and friends, but I’m in love with my boyfriend. And, the question that we often ponder is “how do you truly know if you’re in love?” You can misconstrue being in love for infatuation. If you’ve never been in love before, how the heck do you know if you truly love that person? You may google “how do you know if you’re in love” and read through a list of ways to tell. Then, you think, “hm… since most of those coincide with how I’m feeling, I must be in love.” And, I’m not discredited any websites because, hello, some of them come from valuable sources and there are plenty of studies out there. I’m saying that every person and couple is different. No one loves their boyfriend, girlfriend, husband or wife in the same way.
There could be similarities in every romantic relationship, but they’ll never be exactly alike.
I’m not a scientist or an expert in the relationship field, I’m just simply going off of my experience. This is how I knew I was in love: despite my boyfriend’s quirks and issues, at the end of the day, I accepted him for who he was as a person.
In the past, when I was infatuated, the decision to break it off with a guy was a bit simpler. I mean, it was still hard, but I knew we truly were not meant for each other. Time and time again, I’d date these guys that would let me down. I knew I deserved better, what I wanted in a partner and would no longer settle.
When you’re in love, it actually hurts to be away from them for too long; you constantly miss them even when you’ve spent the whole day together; you feel complete when you’re around them; they make you a better person; you love going to bed and waking up to them every morning and you will never get tired of them even if they drive you bonkers!
Being in love isn’t easy or simple. At times, it absolutely sucks because you constantly fear the other person hurting you at any given moment. It’s about sacrifice, pain, hurt, learning, putting the other first, and doing everything in your power to protect them. They have your heart and you have theirs. Do what you want with it, just try not to harm it in any way possible because well, haven’t you ever heard of people dying from a broken heart?
Be careful; be mindful; be yourself. And, most of all, just love them.