Love Lounge: How do you know you’re in love?

Here’s a question (maybe even a riddle?): How do you know you’re in love?

On the surface, it’s a pretty simple question, isn’t it? We get butterflies, our hearts beat just a little faster, we feel those unmistakable sparks. People often talk of how “you just know when you know,” but that sentiment has always raised more questions than it’s answered, at least for me. Is it a feeling you “know“? Something you’ve never felt before?

My girl Taylor Swift once again summed up my feelings perfectly with one of her songs off her smash hit 1989. In “You Are In Love,” muses…

You can hear it in the silence, silence 
You can feel it on the way home, way home 
You can see it with the lights out, lights out 
You’re in love, true love 
You are in love

So maybe it’s a whole bunch of little tiny moments that add up to that not-so-small moment where you sort of wake up and go, “OK, I feel differently. This could be the real thing.” I’m sure it’s different for each person, but I like to think it’s something like that.

And, what if you were to put your feeling under a microscope and look at them? I mean, in the beginning, is it a better sign if you’re tongue-tied around the person or totally comfortable? Now, I know that all my “loves” have been pretty one-sided (OK, some may say they’ve been painfully one-sided, but that’s still open for debate…), I’ve experienced both. I’ve been rendered nearly speechless by some guys — like, really, really speechless where I was practically incapable of forming a complete coherent thought. It was bad. And then with other guys? I’ve just felt completely at ease, almost as if I’d know them my whole life. I could completely be myself, they knew how to make me laugh and they made me write letters like this. See what these sorts of guys can drive me to do?

Anyway, I’d love your thoughts, friends: Are you in love right now? How did you know it’s the real deal? Was there a specific moment when everything just clicked for you? Or was it a more gradual realization over time? Any advice for us love seekers out there? xoxo

[Photos via We Heart It]