How To Tell Someone You Love Them

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Whisper it to yourself when you cannot sleep, say it to yourself when you are extremely busy and don’t have a moment to think, say it to yourself in the middle of a lecture, say it to yourself on your day off and say it to yourself during the times you save for your own time. Let yourself know you love them before you tell them that you do. Make sure you know your feelings before broadcasting to someone who you think is your world.

Be there. Love isn’t just an emotion. It is an active act – a conscious decision. Ask yourself if you are willing to make the effort, if you are willing to be there for them at 5 AM in the night – the same night you broke down and crumbled under the weight of an existential crisis. It isn’t going to be easy (no one said it ever was) but love should never be an effort. The things you do, bringing them coffee, holding their hand when you notice they’re sad, these should be involuntary.

Expect nothing. But know you deserve everything. Because when you have no expectations, when you don’t demand anything, it’s easier to forget what you deserve. The sun, the moon and the stars. You deserve to be treated like a queen, you deserve to be loved in a way that makes the universe question itself. But never demand it, and never, ever say “I do so much, and I get nothing.” Be smart enough to read between the lines, and be smart enough to leave when your heart is not treated the way it must be deserved.

Have faith. Don’t be afraid of rejection. Know your worth – know that you’re a million stars and a hundred galaxies all packed into one tiny speck of existential dust. Know that if they don’t love you romantically does not make your worth redundant to none. Know that if they don’t like you back, your love for them does not mean any less. Know there’s a certain strength in loving someone who is a glass with a hole in the bottom.

Tell them. Open your heart like the wine bottle you open every night. Spill all your words like pieces of poetry on the tissue in the bar. Tell them, tell the world, tell every single soul that breathes and is present. Love is rare, and if you think you’ve loved someone with your heart, don’t be afraid, don’t be ashamed. Love and tell them that you love them.