How can you be sure it’s love? Is it getting butterflies in your belly just at the sight of them, or is it the rosy tint of your cheeks that gives it away? Despite what the movies often portray, there is no bird landing on your shoulder as you sing for your one and only. The experience of falling in love can be different for everyone. People often say, “You’ll just know if it’s the right one,” but that doesn’t always help. The good news is that some scientifically backed signs can help tell you if you’re likely falling in love, even if you don’t think so.
1. You Find Yourself Thinking About Them
Do you find yourself thinking about them every time your phone buzzes? Are they the last person you think of before you go to bed? When you’re falling in love with someone, you may find it impossible to get them out of your head. Your brain releases phenylethylamine, also known as the love drug. This hormone facilitates the feeling of being in love with someone, and it’s commonly found in some chocolates, which may explain why we’re so tempted to keep eating them even when we know that excess consumption of chocolate is not good for us.
2. You’re Suddenly Open to Exploring New Things
Did you just eat sushi for the first time even though three years back you swore you would never eat it? Are you starting to bend your own rules just a little bit to let someone else in? When you’re beginning to fall in love with someone, you want to make them feel equally impressed by you. As a result, you find yourself constantly trying out new things that you would have never tried before. If you’re now open to new adventures because of your partner, chances are you may have caught the Love Bug.
3. They’ve Made Their Way to Your Priority List
Where do they stand on your priority ranking? The usual priority list for most people reads family, friends, work, etc. However, if someone has debuted in the top five of your priority list all of a sudden, it may be a sign that you’re falling in love with them. Priority lists help you compartmentalize your life and focus on the people and things that you love. You might be falling in love if you are reordering, rearranging, and rethinking your life.
4. You Suddenly Find Their Quirks Extremely Attractive
Crying during commercials, sleeping with the lights on — suddenly, all these quirks that initially made you question your significant other’s choices are now extremely attractive to you. Slowly but surely, you find yourself understanding and appreciating their quirks. You begin to find them irresistible in every way, and that includes their quirks, peculiar sense of humor, and their unusual way of doing things. If all this is true for you, you’ve likely started your journey down the Love Lane.
5. They Boost Your Self-Image
Have you miraculously started to love the way you look in skinny jeans? Have you started singing throughout your apartment instead of limiting it to your solo shower performances? People who are falling in love with someone often find that it has helped them fall in love with themselves too. When you fall in love, you typically experience self-expansion, which means your sense of self expands as a result of this new relationship.
6. Their Traits Become Your Traits
Did you go from being a denim lover to a plaid lover when they introduced you to the comfortable world of flannels and sweatshirts? Are you now more interested in historical museums and art displays over some of your weekly sporting activities? As a couple learns to know one another, their individual self-perceptions begin to blend. You experience genuine pleasure in your partner’s accomplishments, often mistaking your partner’s attributes for your own due to the self-other overlap, where you begin to regard yourself as more and more like your partner.
7. Your Friends Are Noticing
Are you slowly starting to bring them around for your monthly movie nights with your friends? Are your friends starting to tease you by their name or commenting on your relationship with them? Well, your friends can probably see something that you don’t. Talk to your friends and weigh their thoughts and opinions on your relationship with your significant other. You might be surprised by the lovely things they have to say.
8. You Feel Positive About the Future
Do you no longer get worked up about meeting project deadlines as you did before you met them? Do your five-year goals suddenly seem doable? Love has the ability to elevate you. It nourishes your need to be where you belong and to put things right. All your worries about the future can be put on hold when you fall in love. If your distant future plans seem not so distant with them by your side, the love spell has done its trick.
9. You Can’t Stop Smiling
Whether it’s rolling on the floor and laughing over a meme they sent you or simply remembering the last conversation you had with them, you just can’t stop smiling these days. When you’re falling in love, your brain releases large amounts of the happy hormone dopamine. You may feel an eagerness and an inability to stop smiling. The increase in dopamine levels causes these physiological effects. A feedback loop can be established by smiling — you smile more when you’re happy, and the more you smile, the happier you are.
10. You Feel More Love for Others
You and your partner may not be the only ones who are feeling the effects of this newfound love. Thanks to the hormone oxytocin, more commonly known as the love hormone, you feel more open and more connected to others. A 2012 study shows that people experiencing romantic attachment had higher levels of oxytocin persisting for at least six months. It helps improve self-perception in social situations and increases personality traits such as warmth, trust, altruism, and openness. Research states that the hormone’s impact on pro-social behaviors and reward centers in the brain improves emotional, cognitive, and social behaviors.
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Do you know someone in your life who’s exhibited any of the signs mentioned here? Or, on the flip side, have you exhibited any of them? Falling in love is a beautiful and transformative experience that can manifest in various ways.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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