Falling in love with someone can be a wonderful experience! The rush of excitement when you are with that person is enough to make you go head over heels! Dating and relationships really can be a wonderful thing, but if you aren’t ready for it, the relationship could take you to places you never dreamed you’d go. Emotional attachment affects the way you think, and you may even cross a boundary or rule that you said you never would go beyond.

Sometimes it can be hard to know if you are really in love with someone, or if it’s a heartbreak waiting to happen. Real love has some key characteristics that you might want to consider with your own relationship right now, or a future relationship later. Let’s see how your relationship measures up.

Love Takes Time

Believe it or not, real love relationships take time to grow. The whole love at first sight thing usually is a sign that the couple isn’t going to be together for long.
Sure there have been rare occasions where a couple has met and stayed together, but the majority of relationships don’t last. Becoming friends with someone first will insure that you really get to know what kind of person they are.
People can be fake! Sure, he or she might look really cute/hot/gorgeous, but that doesn’t tell you about their life. It says nothing about how they treat others, how they would treat you, how they handle the pressures of life…
It’s much better to really get to know someone, and I’m not talking a week or two, I’m talking about really becoming their friend with no other motive.
What is the benefit of friends first? A lot less heartbreak and you can make better decisions with your future. You don’t have to put on a show or impress anyone. If it’s supposed to be more than friends it will happen. Don’t jump into something only to get your heart smashed in the process.

Love is More Than Physical

Sure it’s really nice to be attracted to your partner, but when that’s all you focus on it can start controlling everything you do. Everything starts out small in a relationship, but it doesn’t stop there.
A small innocent kiss turns into a make out session, and even though it feels good, after awhile it’s not enough to satisfy your desires. Instead of talking, you want to be touching. You can’t honestly say that you enjoy being with that person unless you can “have some fun” before the night is over.
A love relationship has the element of attraction and you should be attracted to that person, but you should also have other key elements that are even more important than the physical. You should care more about if your partner is trustworthy than if they look really good in that new outfit. You should want to talk to them and share feelings. This can be a difficult area to deal with in a relationship because we do have a natural sex drive, but that’s exactly why we need to be very careful not to get carried away in this area. 

Love Lets You be Yourself and Live Your Own Life

You’re probably expecting us to say that you should never be around your partner unless you absolutely have to, but we actually think that spending time with your partner is a good thing. It just depends on the balance between relationship and the rest of your life.
Spending time with your partner helps you to know them more, and can actually make your relationship healthier, but can you also function when you aren’t with that person? Can you be with friends without wondering constantly what your partner is doing or who he/she is with?
Beginning a relationship doesn’t mean that you have to end all the other friendships that you have. You should still make time for them just like you do in your relationship.

Trust is an Indicator of True Love

Trust is a key element to any lasting relationship. A lack of trust brings frustration, anger, suspicion, and in the end a broken heart. You should be with someone who you know is going to be faithful and committed to you.
If someone has been unfaithful in the past to you, you should consider ending that relationship. Some people allow themselves to be cheated on and just become more and more attached emotionally to that person. If that person is cheating on you, they probably don’t have your best interests in mind.
You might not want to leave that relationship because of fear that you might not find someone else, but if you wait for something better it will show up. Don’t settle for second best – find someone who cares about you and is committed to you for a lifetime.

Love is Not the Same as Sex

A real love relationship can survive without sex.
Some couples decide to have sex to bring the relationship to the “next level.” They think it will keep them together because of sharing that special experience.
The truth is that it will bond you to that person, but it could begin to dominate the relationship and complicate things. When you do break up, it hurts a lot more because of those past memories. You run into that person at the mall or some other public event and you wish you could never see them again. No matter how hard you try, the memories of the past always seem to affect your future.
Try finding someone who actually considers it worth waiting for you. Someone who considers you worth the wait shows that they see real value in you. They desire to get to know you beyond their own physical pleasure. They want what’s best for you, and they also know that if you do break up, you won’t be hurting as bad. Someone like that might be worth hanging on to. Don’t just settle for the first guy or girl that says you’re cute.

So, now that we have taken a look at some very important parts of a relationship, how does yours measure up? Do you see some changes that might need to be made? If so, now is the time to make them! Don’t wait for things to work themselves out.
Today you can start making better choices for your future. One of those choices that we strongly recommend is abstinence. Maybe you have been burned in a past relationship or had your heart broken; you don’t have to repeat the cycle again. You can have a healthy, real love relationship. It might take some work, but it’s up to you to decide how valuable you really are. Will you settle for just anybody, or will you wait for someone who is waiting for you? The choice is yours.