When your feelings are intense, it can be easy to confuse love, lust, and loneliness. It can be rather challenging to understand the difference between the three. But here’s the real difference between each of these complex emotions so that you never mistake one for another again.
Love
Love should be easy and when you feel it, your relationship will fall into place. If you and your partner love each other, you’ll accept your partner regardless of their flaws, and you will each willingly support each other.
When you love someone, you feel happy when they’re around, but you also don’t rely on them for everything. You’ll also know that no one can come between you and your partner. For instance, even if your celebrity crush approached you, your feelings for your partner wouldn’t change in the slightest. Love is when you both respect and trust each other. It’s not some crazy rollercoaster where you’re constantly second guessing yourself.
To figure out if what you feel towards another person is actually love, ask yourself if your significant other makes you happy and accepts your flaws and whether you can’t imagine life without each other. If you answer “yes,” then it could definitely be love.
Lust
It can be frustrating to be enamoured by someone but struggle to connect on a deeper level. Your attraction may run high, but your conversations are surface level. You can force lust to turn into love all you want, but the lust will soon wear off, and when it disappears, you won’t be happy.
To figure out if your feelings are purely based on lust, ask yourself if there’s minimal emotional connection in your relationship. Question whether this person fulfills your emotional needs and respects you Don’t feel guilty if the answer isn’t what you want. Lust happens to the best of us!
Loneliness
Loneliness can easily lead you into toxic relationships. Perhaps boredom led you to this person, or you believe that they’re the best you’ll ever find (which obviously isn’t true!) The sooner you recognize that you’re only with your partner because you’re lonely, the easier it’ll be to end your relationship.
To figure out if loneliness prompted your relationship, ask yourself if you’d still be with this person if you were content with your life. Question whether you like your partner or just like the idea of them as a person. And of course, ask yourself if you’re settling because you just want someone. Think about it for a bit and sleep on it, and then, you’ll know the truth.
Knowing where your relationship stands can be difficult, but learning to recognize the differences between love, lust, and loneliness is a great place to start. When you ask yourself if you’re in love, in lust, or just lonely, you’ll know whether staying in your current relationship is worth your time.
Featured Photo by Hendo Wang on Unsplash.
