For many—though not all— “falling in love” is the catalyst that leads people to decide on a long-term relational commitment.
Long-term relationships can be scary and many simply wouldn’t commit to something so life-altering without a significant “chemical reaction.”
So, what are the signs of falling in love? Here are some.
If You Aren’t Sure, Then You Likely Haven’t “Fallen in Love”
Though all peoples’ experiences are a little different, once you’ve fallen in love, it’ll be obvious.
You. Will. Just. Know.
Your thoughts will constantly go to your person of interest. You will do all you can to spend more time with them. You will go to great lengths to please that special person even if it comes at great personal sacrifice.
Is it possible for a great relationship to form without “falling in love”? Absolutely. But if it happens to you, you’ll just know.
You Feel Great Around Your Significant Other
It doesn’t really matter what activity you’re doing. When you’re in love, the more important thing is who you are with—namely the one who holds your attention more than anyone else.
You feel great, confident and elated. You just click with this person who you feel completes your puzzle.
You feel more alive than you’ve ever felt before. You feel happy, find it easy to smile and have a sense of humor around your favorite person in the world.
You feel the need for this person like you feel the need for oxygen.
You Find It Easy to Overlook Faults
When you’re in love, you have an amazing capacity to overlook faults. At this stage, you may find the faults of your significant other cute—the same faults you could grow to dislike later.
The in-love experience is wrapped with intense and often pleasurable feelings. But it’s important to remember that those feelings can lead you to the right place or equally lead you astray if you’re not careful.
For instance, you may end up going too deep with someone because you find it easy to overlook their faults. Those faults should be serving as red flags but you explain them away because of your infatuation.
Those in-love feelings can result in a committed relationship but they also can cause you to throw away a valuable long-term relationship because someone else made you feel better for the moment.
A Healthy, Long-Term Perspective
For anyone who’s experienced the feeling of falling in love, they can tell you it is the greatest high you can experience in life.
They will equally tell you that it can be lost as quickly as it came. “Falling in love” is a good description because it’s more something that happens to you than anything else.
The phenomenon itself is wonderful and leads to a powerful reason to commit to someone. However, that in-love feeling won’t sustain you over the long run.
Like a You Tuber going viral can be compared to the thrill of falling in love, there is a tremendous rush and seeming return. But eventually that “high” ends and daily “work” and commitment needs to take place for success.
Although falling in love is a great starting point, if you want a relationship that lasts longer than a few weeks, months or years, it will need to be based on more than mere feeling.
Debra Fileta well described what you need after that in-love feeling fades when she said the following:
“Love is deep. Love is commitment. Love is selfless. Love is costly. Love is life-giving. And ultimately, love is a choice. Because maybe anyone can “fall in love,” but more meaningful than that is when we choose to stay in love.”
That’s the kind of commitment that must replace falling in love for a relationship to survive and thrive.
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