Are you wondering “What does love feel like?” Falling in love is what everyone wants, what we seek in relationships. We want to feel loved and be loved by someone else. While love can mean different things to different people, it involves attachment or commitment to another person.
Love is one of the highest vibrational feelings you can experience in your life. This blog post will discuss what love feels like, what it feels like when you are in love with someone, as well as the difference between being attracted to someone and being in love with them, especially for the long-term!
Let’s get reading!
My story of falling in love
I detailed the journey of finding my soulmate here, if you want to read it in full.
When I was in my 20s, if you had asked me “what does love feel like?” I would have given a much different answer. I fell for a lot of the social constructs of what love is supposed to look like. These are things that people tell each other about how love works, and many of them are highly toxic and create the perfect conditions for anger, hatred, and violence.
Toxic beliefs about love
– Love and marriage are hard work.
– If you’re not making sacrifices, you’re being selfish.
– The other person’s happiness is your responsibility.
– Love has to look like in the movies.
In case you need me to spell it out, all of these are false. I equated “hard work” with “struggle”, and I was so hypervigilant about being selfish that I let others take advantage of me.
My first marriage was so full of toxic beliefs that it was excruciating. Add in some emotional manipulation and we had the perfect recipe for misery and abuse. If you’re feeling like any of the toxic statements define your love, please keep reading to gain some more healthy beliefs about love.
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Having healthy beliefs about falling in love
When I finally realized how untrue and damaging these beliefs were, I started to realize what love actually feels like. My husband helped with this too, of course!
Let me turn the statements above into more healthy, balanced statements about love:
– Love and marriage require honesty.
– When you share the same values with the one you love, you won’t need to make any major sacrifices. Plus, sacrifices don’t feel like sacrifices because you are happy with the experiences. Plus, you can take time for yourself without being selfish.
– The other person’s happiness is their own responsibility, but when they are healthy and balanced, your presence will add to their happiness.
– Love almost never looks like the movies. Your love is unique.
Now, I have a much better answer as to what true love feels like. There are a lot more definitions we’re going to explore in the sections below, so make sure you keep reading.
How do you know if it’s love or attraction?
In order to properly define love, we also need to ask what’s the difference between love and physical attraction.
While love is a deep, tender feeling of affection and care for another person, attraction is more physical. With love, you might feel a soulful connection with a sense of wonder. With attraction, you will experience physical reactions. (You can absolutely be attracted to someone but not feel love for them.)
Some of the ways you might experience physical attraction are:
– You find yourself obsessing over a certain body part or how they look.
– You’ll feel a strong desire to be with that person.
– You fantasize about them.
– It gives you a sense of electricity and excitement.
In contrast, when you are feeling love, you might experience:
– A feeling of warmth and safety
– A soulful connection
– Feeling grounded
– A sense of wonder
What about physically? The physical feelings of love are much less concrete than the physical feelings of attraction. The physical feelings of love are groundedness, living in the present moment, a feeling of flow, an increase in creativity, and a sense of wonder and idealism.
Can you experience attraction and love at the same time? Yes, of course! Love is an emotion that can exist between two people without any kind of sexual attraction or desire.
What does love feel like?
Love may give you a feeling of weightlessness or it may make you feel grounded. You will likely feel safe, warm, and a deep level of trust for the other person. You may experience feelings of flow, acceptance, wonder, and bursts of creativity. When you’re in love, the world is a beautiful place.
25 Signs You’re In Love
1) You find yourself planning a future with that person.
When you’re falling in love, you might start thinking about what a future will look like. When you plan a future with someone, what that future holds is up to the two of you.
It may mean you’re thinking of marriage, kids, growing old together, or even just spending time in the near future traveling or being together. Whatever your relationship holds, you feel things moving forward.
2) You enjoy spending time with them without sex
When your soul is in love, you enjoy all the time you spend with that person. While sex is nice, it’s not required for a good time. You might enjoy spending time together just talking, being adventurous, doing new things, or even doing what you each enjoy separately.
When you can each sit on the couch and separately read a book while your feet touch, feeling perfectly content, it might be love.
3) You are perfectly content to talk to them for hours
Falling in love often feels like you can talk to them for hours. You don’t run out of things to say and you can talk about whatever comes to your mind. Hours fly by when the person in front of you is someone that love has brought into your life.
When there’s no end point for how long a conversation can last, it might be time to call what what going on between the two of you love.
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4) You feel physically and emotionally safe with them.
This is a big one that tells you exactly what love feels like. When you are with that person, you feel physically and emotionally safe with them. You know that they will be there for you and will protect you.
You feel as if nothing can get through what is created between the two of you. It also means that they are someone who respects your boundaries and your feelings.
This feeling of safety is a pretty big indicator that what you feel right now isn’t just attraction – it’s actually love!
5) You want to meet their friends and family.
If you find yourself wanting to meet their friends and family, you might be in love! You seek to be an integral part to their larger world, and what better way than by knowing who they know and making friends with their friends and becoming a part of their larger family?
6) You find your mind awhirl with a new passion for life.
Suddenly, you feel energized and passionate for life. You’re not just happy – you feel alive. Sometimes it makes you feel fearless. Sometimes it makes you think the world is conspiring to bring you all your dreams.
Love gives us the energy to power through after a few sleepless nights and brings passion to other areas of our lives.
7) You know who they are, deep down.
When you’re feeling what love really means, you know the person you love. In fact, you may get a gut instinct that you knew who they were before you even got to know them.
Like they were made so perfectly for you that you were discovering things about them that you already anticipated! You knew their values, their passions, their flaws, and their trauma.
8) You accept their flaws.
Speaking of flaws, you are totally accepting of this person’s flaws. No human is perfect. But people you have dated in the past didn’t feel right. Maybe it was that their foot odor was overwhelming, or you couldn’t stand how they eat. Or perhaps it was a bigger character flaw like their chronic low self-esteem. Whatever it is, your partners in the past left you annoyed or disappointed.
But when you’re in love, their flaws are beautiful because they’re a part of who they are. Their flaws don’t bother you one single bit!
9) You want to please them because their happiness makes you happy too.
Unhealthy or toxic love ideals tell us to be obligated to serve the other person. But when we’re experiencing what love feels like, we don’t mind doing favors or being of service. It doesn’t mean you bend over backwards. It means that you want to contribute to that person’s life and happiness. And their happiness makes you happy!
And when they’re feeling what love feels like, they also like to do things for you because they like seeing you happy too.
10) You see beauty everywhere.
Being in love often softens the harshness of life and brightens the beauty of life. A sign you’re in love is that you see beauty everywhere. Whether it’s beauty in the sunrise after sleepless nights, or even just the beauty in a cup of coffee, it doesn’t matter.
The problems and worries that plague our existence seem to melt away, and what’s left is the most wonderful, uplifting parts of life.
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11) You don’t feel alone.
What does love feel like? One thing you certainly don’t feel: you don’t feel alone.
Being in love is a feeling that makes you feel full. Love makes you feel that you’re not alone anymore. You feel like what you were looking for has been found.
This is what love feels like: the feeling of being full, not just physically but emotionally too. Being in love means that you have someone who will always be there to support and care about what’s on your mind or life.
12) You’re curious to know them on a deeper level.
Curiosity is a natural, wonderful instinct. When you think you might be falling in love, you probably want to get to know this person. You might want to know what their favorite food is, what they do for a living, what kind of music they like. You’re curious about what makes them tick – because this person will make your life better.
13) You feel their pain.
True love also feels painful sometimes, because when they are in pain, you are in pain. This is called empathy. When you’re in love and you have an open heart, you often feel everything your partner is feeling.
This feeling of empathy is what allows you to love your partner unconditionally. Empathy and unconditional love are two of the main characteristics that need to be present for a relationship to blossom into something beautiful over time.
14) You like cuddling with them.
Sex? Please! Let’s cuddle!
Physical touch is important in relationships. It’s what makes us feel happiest and most loved. After all, it’s one of the five love languages!
You can’t help but touch them, even when you’re not in the mood to have sex. You need a little physical contact to make everything okay. It doesn’t matter if it’s cuddling on the couch or kissing while washing dishes, you just want your partner near.
15) You want to stare into their eyes.
It is said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and what could be more romantic than gazing deeply into them? It’s a sign of intimacy in any relationship.
When you’re in love with someone, looking at their eyes becomes just as important as breathing. You want to know what they are thinking all the time because it is so easy for you two to connect that way.
16) You would rather be with them than doing anything else.
The overwhelming feeling of wanting to spend every waking moment with that person is a good indication of what love feels like. When my husband and I were starting to date, I would spend a lot of time in his office during our prep time and after school. I couldn’t see him enough.
You would rather be with them than do anything else, so how does it feel to fall in love? It is wanting nothing more than to spend time together and enjoy the moments you share.
17) Being with them is easy.
What does love feel like? Being with them is easy and life feels so much easier when they are there for everything that comes your way in life. You might even get the feeling of life floating or sailing along effortlessly.
You don’t have any worries or problems because life feels effortless and free!
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18) Your feelings don’t fluctuate.
If you’re with someone that’s not right for you, you might have doubts. You might worry about what they’re thinking. You might feel deeply in love one minute and disappointed and apathetic the next.
With true love, you don’t experience that. Your feelings don’t fluctuate. They’re steady, regardless of whether you’re in the midst of an effortless, wonderful period of life, or whether you’re deep in a difficult time. This person is by your side and your feelings of love are steady and true.
19) You make sacrifices for each other.
As mentioned above, sacrifices can easily turn sour. When you’re making too many sacrifices, you start to resent the other person.
But when you’re experiencing the feeling of real love, you don’t mind making an occasional sacrifice. And this is because you do it out of love and not out of obligation.
20) You don’t get mad at them very easily.
No two people in the world will agree on everything all the time. But when you do disagree, you try to come to a compromise.
Feeling at peace even when you’re arguing, as opposed to feeling angry and resentful? That’s what being in love can feel like.
No one is perfect – but they are your person. And that makes them great!
21) Your love for them is unconditional.
Unconditional love is a kind of love where people do not set conditions or requirements for their love. This kind of love is superior to what is usually called “love” because it allows space for mistakes.
If your partner makes a mistake you still love them. And if you make a mistake, your partner does not hold it against you. People who experience unconditional love feel cherished and adored.
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22) You can’t stop thinking about what they’re doing.
Often love feels like non-stop thoughts of the other person. What you’re doing doesn’t matter because they are always on your mind.
It feels good to think about them and what they might be up to at the moment. When you do, it gets easier to forget what’s stressing or anything that is bothering you!
23) You feel the same way as you did when you first met them, but more intense each day.
In the words of Spiral Staircase, “I love you more today than yesterday. But not as much as tomorrow.”
You’ll notice that love for this person continues to grow and grow. Love never dies and what you feel for your true love never diminishes. Sure, love changes over time. Perhaps it includes kids and less time alone together, but the actual feeling of love never wavers.
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24) Happiness is everywhere you turn.
Simply, love feels like happiness. Your partner’s presence in your life is so meaningful and wonderful that you spend most of your time feeling happy.
Sure, life happens and there are ups and downs. But ultimately, this person can make you feel happier just by saying a silly joke or being there as a shoulder to cry on.
25) Your heart beats just a little faster.
When you’re in love, your heart beats a little faster. Especially when you are first falling in love, you may feel like this just by thinking about them or looking at them.
But even after love has been there for a long time, you might reminisce about falling in love with them so long ago and feel your face flush and your heart skip a beat. The feeling in our heart never goes away.
What does love feel like when you’ve been together forever?
You might be thinking this article is a little idealistic and romanticizes modern love too much. And perhaps it does.
Time can be our best friend or our worst enemy. Maybe you once felt this way, but now, you’re not so sure. Maybe the person’s flaws are little more annoying, and you no longer see the beauty you once did.
Here’s the thing. Sometimes people drift apart. It doesn’t mean the love is no longer there.
It may mean that you need to find your way back to each other. Because when you ask “what does love feel like when you’ve been together forever?” you may find the answer is much different.
It is worth mentioning that while everyone develops with different relationships, there are key factors that can lead people into being rekindled in their deep love for one another once again in a long-term relationship.
Take a look at the list above. What are some things that you find are untrue for you? Perhaps you feel disconnected from them and no longer want to spend time with them like you once did. Finding a way to reconnect isn’t as difficult as you may think.
Take some time to plan getting away from your obligations: namely, kids and work. Then spend time alone together. You can look into each other’s eyes, talk like you once did, or just cuddle. You may discover that those feelings of love were still there all along and you just needed to dig them up. They were buried beneath years of hardship, worry, life, and struggle. But the feelings are still there.
Conclusion
Now you have a great idea of what love actually feels like, true love, falling in love, and long-term love. Use these 25 signs to determine what love feels like for you. And if you’re worried that your relationship does not look like this, make sure you read:
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And be sure to leave a comment to tell me what love feels like for you!
Michael lawson
Monday 15th of November 2021
The same in every way
Lisa
Thursday 8th of July 2021
Absolutely right on the money! I feel all of this. I am so in love, although my boyfriend doesn’t seem to be yet. But I know it will happen. My heart tells me we are destined to be together.