If you’re sitting at home asking yourself, ‘Am I in love?’ the chances are you might well be! After all, if you’re feeling things for a person that you’ve never felt before, you might be falling in love with them.
But with love comes great vulnerability. You might not feel ready to lay your innermost feelings out in front of the other person. After all, how do you know they feel the same way?
Understanding if you’re in love isn’t always easy, but we’ve got you covered. Here are ten signs that will help you know for sure if what you’re feeling towards your partner is actually love.
1. They seem just perfect.
Nobody is perfect. But when you’re in love with someone, they seem as close to perfect as it’s possible to be.
From the quirky way that they talk to the potentially annoying way they chew their food, if you can’t seem to identify a flaw in your partner, you might truly love them for who they are.
2. You lose track of time when you’re together.
Meeting for a quick coffee can turn into a whole day spent together. You get the feeling that nothing else in the world matters right now, other than what your partner thinks of you.
In fact, pretty much anything could be happening around you, and you wouldn’t even notice. It’s as if your whole world is sitting in front of you, and nothing else in this moment is remotely important.
3. You care about them.
If you begin to care about what your partner does and the choices that they make, it’s a sign that your relationship is deepening. If you’re in a casual, lustful relationship, it’s often surface-level, and you’re not overly concerned with what your partner does when you’re not together.
Caring sometimes manifests itself as jealousy or worry, but it really just means that you genuinely care about how the other person is. In the early days, it can keep you up at night and drive you crazy, but it’s a lovely feeling to have all the same!
4. You want to introduce them to your family and friends.
We’ve all been with people we couldn’t possibly imagine introducing to our loved ones. Whether it was a regrettable one-night stand or a fleeting summer romance, the last thing on your mind was bringing them home for a family meal.
However, if you’ve met that special someone, you want to show them off to your family and friends. You want them to be present at special occasions and get-togethers, and you can’t imagine them not being a part of your family.
5. The honeymoon period is over, but you still can’t get enough of them.
The early weeks and months of any new relationship should be exciting. You feel like the world is a wonderful place, and it’s all yours to explore. But what happens six months in when you begin to feel comfortable with one another?
Well, if you’re truly in love, not a great deal changes. While the excitement may reduce to a certain extent, you will still feel like you’re the luckiest person alive and want to be with your partner whenever you can.
6. You miss them when they’re not around.
When you’re not together, it can be painful. You sit at home counting down the minutes until you’re reunited and don’t want your partner to leave when it’s time for them to go home.
And it’s not just when you want something, either. Missing someone is about truly wanting to be at their side for no other reason than just wanting to be together.
7. You’re happy to compromise to be together.
For any relationship to work in the long term, compromise is necessary. After all, two lives are merging into one. While you shouldn’t renounce your values and change as a person to make your partner happy, compromise is essential.
Whether it’s scheduling plans, deciding where to move to, or even deciding when to start a family, if you’re willing to compromise and accommodate your partner, you’re on course for a loving future together.
8. You begin to settle down as a person.
When you’re single, it’s natural to be all over the place and desperate to meet new people. However, when you’re in love, you’re less bothered about socializing and constantly being on the move.
In other words, you become a lot more settled as a person and willing to spend time with your partner. While you should never neglect your friends, you’re content in your relationship and willing to settle down and maybe even put down some roots of your own.
9. You’re not distracted by other possible romances.
At any one time, single people might have a couple of potential romances on the go. Whether it’s a colleague at work or someone you met online, you might be inclined to keep your options open to see how things develop.
However, if you’re fully committed to one person, other possible romances become unimportant. You don’t spend time fixating about what might have been or daydreaming about a former lover. Instead, you’re only interested in spending time with your partner and building a future together.
10. You’ve started planning your future with them.
Even if you haven’t spoken to them about the future, your daydreams might be filled with where you want to buy your house and how many kids you want to raise.
Seeing your partner play a central role in your future will help you realize that you’ve got a good chance of building a life together. If you’re having these thoughts, it’s a good idea to talk to your partner and see if they feel the same way.
Closing thoughts.
Understanding if you’re in love isn’t straightforward, as everyone feels love in different ways.
Sometimes you may confuse a crush vs real love, but they are not the same things! Love should be a feeling like no other, and it’s more than just a physical attraction to someone you’ve been dating.
When you know that what you’re feeling is love, it’s a good idea to talk to your partner and find out if they feel the same way about you. Hopefully, it will be the start of a long and happy future together, and you can begin to build the rest of your lives as a couple.