When you're dating someone for a long time, it might be hard to tell whether you are falling in love or not. A lot depends on the stage you are in with your partner. For example, if you are in the honey moon stage, you might erroneously believe that you are in love, because all you do is talk to this person or spend time with this person. Ask yourself, however, what you have left once that stage has passed? Is the love still there? A lot of the time, it isn't. While there is no tried and true method to know whether you are in love or not, there may be some signs that can help you start thinking about your whether you are in love or not with your partner. We are here to try and help you sift through your feelings and find out if you are actually in love! So, look out for these signs down below!
You do things you never thought you would do
You have things you like to do, and your partner has different things they like to do. You may not like to do a lot of the things they like to do. However, you find yourself inexplicably doing a lot of those things anyways. The question you should ask yourself is "Why?" The answer is probably that you are falling in love or have at least begun the process. According to Psychology Today, people who fall in love tend to report growth in contentment and diversity of their own self-concepts. This means that not only will you be doing things you don't necessarily like, but you might end up finding new things to like and do because of your partner!
You may get stressed out
The transition from a casual relationship to falling in love may have some adverse effects that you may not expect. For example, you will do anything to make this person happy, so your stress levels rise because now you are changing your appearances, as you are trying to give the person you love a good impression of you.
You feel like you want to be with your partner all the time
While there are chemical effects of stress involved with falling in love, falling in love also causes dopamine-rich areas in your brain to function at a higher rate and increase your motivation to spend time with your partner.
The person you are falling for returns your feelings
Interestingly enough, women find that their feelings are reciprocated more often than men. According to Psychology Today, there are two possibilities as to why women are more likely to have their feelings reciprocated. One of these reasons may be that women are able to hold back the desire to express their love making it more likely to have their partner return there sentiment. The other reason cited was that. So, if you are a woman and you find that you are falling for someone find if there is the right time to tell them and let them know how you feel.
You feel like you fall in love frequently
If falling in love happens to you more frequently, then you'll have less chance of missing out on the real deal. However, this does heighten the chances of you getting hurt, because you'll be more likely to mistake the attraction for love. There are a lot of different ways to feel love, so some people may not know they are in love right away. There is evidence, however, that suggests that men fall in love more frequently than women.
Do you get the urge to say, "I love you"?
This is for sure a sign that there is romantic interest. But, for some people, it is more difficult to say than others. This does not mean they haven't fallen in love, it just means they have a harder time showing their feelings. In heterosexual couples it may seem like women are the first to say it, but more often than not, men are the ones to say "I love you". Make sure that you don't write someone off if they aren't ready to say they love you. It doesn't mean they don't love you, they just need some more time to feel comfortable saying it.
You may have a high intensity of emotions
Some people have high feelings of attachment anxiety, if you have attachment anxiety then may be someone who gets incredibly anxious when they are away from their partner. So, the degree of passion felt when falling in love is very high because you are fixated on your partner. But for others, it is not necessarily the case, and it isn't a problem if you aren't necessarily falling apart from the passions of love. Simply you are oriented towards avoidant attachments. Which means you fall in love with much less intensity and you don't get the anxiety when you are away from your partner. It is important that if you are this way with someone who has attachment anxiety to have a conversation with them to let them know how you really feel and how you show and prove your love to them.
Falling in love is unique to the person and you have to understand that you won't have the same type of love with each person. So, knowing the person you are falling in love with is also falling for you while being kind, compassionate, and on the same page in terms of priorities, is an important step in having a healthy and fulfilling relationship. If you keep up your search and put in the time and effort to find someone, you may be falling in love soon enough! Good luck on your search!