This Is What Love Is...

This Is What Love Is…

Folding a towel four times in a row because he kept using it for his morning routines and not getting annoyed, but smiling every time you do. This is just an example of one of the many repetitive things you willingly do for your significant other. Whether you cut the crusts off of his sandwiches or you warm the car up for her in the mornings before she goes to work, you are happy to do so. Making that person happy pleases you more than you can explain, so the small things that they do or demand that would annoy someone else are actually things that you love about them.

Taking your shoes off and giving them to your girlfriend so she doesn’t burn her feet on the hot sand, even though yours now are. One of the most important things in the world to you is making your other half happy. Their comfort levels are constantly on your mind and you are willing to go to great lengths to make sure they are perfectly content no matter the cost to you.

Having enough respect to keep your hands to yourself. When you were single, you went to bars, clubs and anywhere else that had a good picking of attractive people for you to solicit yourself to. Now that you’re crazy in love with another individual, you have the utmost respect for them and you show them the compassion that you expect to receive. Now, you’re hardly ever caught in bars or clubs anymore and if you are, you’re thinking about him/her the whole time.

Having no desire to put your hands on anyone else. This goes without being said. You have found the one to complete you and you can’t imagine life ever getting better than it already is. You no longer have the desire to ogle over other men or women and you’re so blessed to know that your partner feels the same.

A surprise of a home cooked meal after you’ve complained about your shitty life through texts all day. Keeping a relationship alive is all about surprises. If you’re the same person doing the same stuff that you did when you first started dating, your significant other is going to become very bored. Instead, spice up the relationship with things such as this. Never become predictable, but instead, keep your significant other on their toes. Surprise your girlfriend with flowers and her favorite coffee from Dunkin when you know she had a rough morning. Surprise your man with a pair of concert tickets of that band that he’s been talking about for months. The rewards will be matchless.

Hating the words “good night” every night, because that means you can’t talk to them for a few hours. You love your job, your time with your friends and the many bubble baths you get to take when you’re apart from your significant other, but you miss them like crazy during each. Not in a pathetic way, but you know that each part of your life is enriched because he/she is a part of it. Holding them close at night is one of the best parts of your day, and it’s sad when a good thing ends so soon.

Picking your girlfriend up off the side of the road because she was too broke to buy gas that morning. You’re selfless when it comes to him/her. You’ll do everything in your power to make sure everyday they are on this earth, they are as happy as humanly possible. These incidents make you laugh and create lasting memories (and lasting jokes) between the two of you. You’re his/her best friend and you love that he/she relies on you the way that they do.

Acting absolutely pathetic and having no remorse for it at all. You used to make fun of people who were head over heels for someone else. You were an independent person who honestly couldn’t stand the thought of having to depend on someone else. Now, you can’t imagine anything different. You laugh uncontrollably at the stupid shit they do, you go out of your way to make headaches go away and you create vision boards of your life together. It’s fucking pathetic, but you wouldn’t change it for the world.

Pushing someone to become the best they can be and supporting them through it all. My life motto is there’s always room for improvement. You fell in love with your significant other for very significant reasons, but that person will always have areas of their life that they can be better in. Your job is not to push them to change, but instead, encourage them to always see the glass half full and strive each and everyday to be the couple that everyone detests because of how great you are together.

When any activity you can do reminds you of them. You’re watching TV and a Game of Thrones ad comes on E News. You’ve been watching the first season with your significant other lately and it automatically makes you think of him. You are cooking dinner and you remember how much he hates tomatoes, so you leave those out of the ingredients. You are at work with Pandora playing softly in the background. A song he showed you months ago comes on and there you are in la la land again. Get a hold of yourself woman!

Staying up all night talking and learning from each other when you know you have to work 8 hours the next day. You have been together for months, years, now and you think you know everything about the person you lie next to every night, but for some reason, you still find that you absolutely love learning from them and hearing about their daily lives. She got a promotion, you’re excited. His mom is sick, you’re depressed. You two are connected now and even though you know tomorrow is going to be a bitch, all you want to do is hear their voice until you finally pass out.

Seeing someone at their worst and loving them even more than their best. Any girl can look beautiful with make-up on. Any man can look flawless in a white button down and jeans. No girl is beautiful throwing up everything she has inside of her after a drunken night of debauchery. No man is sexy right after he gets done playing basketball, covered in sweat. But for some unscientific reason, you think your girlfriend is more beautiful than she ever has been when she’s at her absolute worst and you love your man more when he’s not looking like a million bucks. You didn’t fall in love with her make-up or his outward appearance. Once everything is taken off is when you know you’re hopelessly in love with them.

A back scratch before bed. You enjoy doing the little things that please them. You’ve both gotten to the point where you know exactly what they like and exactly what they detest. Every night before bed, you scratch his back, because you love the feeling of his goosebumps under your nails. Every morning, you roll over and tell her how beautiful she is when she wakes up, because you love seeing that genuine, yet vulnerable smile she gives back.

Being the only person who can make them feel better when things aren’t going their way. You don’t know what it is, you don’t know how you do it, but there’s something about you and the way you treat your significant other that makes their entire mood alter. All you have to do is hold them. There are no words that need to be exchanged, your presence is enough to fix it all.

Spending 72 hours straight with someone and only wishing it could be longer. No amount of time with them will ever be enough. You can literally spend an entire week in bed and, when the time comes for it to be over, you’ll dread it miserably.

All-encompassing and exhilarating. Being in love should be fun. You’re a part of something that’s far more incredible than you could have ever imagined and you’re learning everyday how it works. The things you feel for them cannot be expressed by words, because the feelings are too numerous and complex in nature.

Listening intently and being genuinely invested in everything they say and do.
You don’t just hear them when they’re talking, you genuinely listen and produce conversation. You are invested in his success. You are interested in her fashion blog.

Appreciation. You have no idea what you did to deserve such an amazing person and an even more amazing feeling, but you are so grateful that you did it. You feel as if there are not enough hours in a day or enough words in the dictionary to describe your loyalty, passion and genuine love for this other human being, so you just continue saying how much you appreciate them. Thought Catalog Logo Mark