Even though it seems like falling in love should be easy, sometimes trying to pinpoint when you’ve found true love can be incredibly confusing.
There is something beautiful about the infatuation we all feel during the honeymoon phase of a romantic relationship. You know, that blissful stage when every time you and your partner see each other, you immediately start smooching and can’t keep your hands off of each other. In this stage, you constantly use each other’s pet names and can’t stop holding hands. You gross out everyone you know, and you don’t care one bit because you just can’t get enough of your honey’s love. Everything is fresh and new and sweet.
Eventually, however, those strong initial feelings fade, and you either realize that it wasn’t really love and break up, or you realize that you want to do everything possible to make your connection last.
I know that I’m in love when my heart feels full, but I’ve often wondered if it’s the same for everyone else, especially for men. As we all know, men and women often approach relationships differently. Sure, we all want basically the same thing — a best friend who we also love romantically — but that doesn’t mean that we take the same routes tp get there.
To that end, I decided to dig into a thread over on r/AskMen to see what guys had to say about knowing when they’re in love.
The stories that the men shared in response are sweet and helpful, particularly if you know that you’re in love with a man and are trying to figure out if he feels the same way.
Without further ado, here’s how you know when you love someone, according to 11 exceptionally honest men.
1. When you want to spend all of your time with them.
“Because not only do I love her, I like being around her, and I want her in my life because she adds something positive… She’s not just a drain on my wallet or full of drama. Relationships can be difficult if you are inexperienced, but they shouldn’t be that hard if you find the right person.”
2. When you think that they look beautiful no matter what.
“Someone told me that if you can imagine walking in on her while she’s struggling to take a massive poop and you still find her attractive, that’s love. I laughed and thought it was funny, but there’s some truth [to] that.”
3. When the other person matters as much to you as you matter to yourself.
“Her happiness is a crucial ingredient to my happiness.”
4. When you can’t stop smiling around them.
“People around you will wonder why you keep smiling, but you don’t notice them at all. A warm, fuzzy feeling starts from your ears and moves up towards your front. As you breath in [deeply], you gaze into her eyes.”
5. When you can’t imagine yourself with anyone else.
“I actually dumped her and then did the whole hedonistic one-night stand thing. Eventually, [I] realized that every girl I met, I immediately compared to her, so it never worked out with any of them since they never could compare. Fast forward a few years, [and] we met up again, became friends [and then] lovers, [and then I] made her my wife. End of story.”
6. When it just feels easy to be together.
“A good relationship shouldn’t be a headache or [an] extreme amount of work.”
7. When you feel like you belong to each other.
“When I’m driving to see her, I get really excited. And I have this deep, deep contentment, like she’s my woman. I don’t have to look around or anything. We belong to each other now in a very pure and beautiful way.”
8. When you imagine a future together — and it makes you happy.
“I can imagine having children with her, and it makes me happy to imagine it. I don’t even want kids, but that’s still how I know.”
9. When the honeymoon stage ends, but you still don’t want to leave.
“When [the] quirks [that I] used to find cute and endearing become utter BS to [me]. And [I] look past it because [I] want to be with her, regardless of anything else. Basically, once the honeymoon phase is over and you’re still interested in each other.”
10. When you know you care about more than just the physical aspects of your relationship.
“Rather than thinking about how awesome it would be to [sleep with her], I think about what a wonderful person she is and how I want to just live life with [her] by my side.”
11. When even their dreams are endlessly interesting to you.
“The moment when I realized that I [cared] about what she dreamed about last night.”
If you date men and want to know if your partner is in love with you, now you’ll know the signs that their love for you will last. Chances are, it looks similarly to when you’re in love — and we hope you feel that love back!
Originally written by Rebecca Jane Stokes on YourTango.
Featured Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash.
