Question on love

Jasmin416

Cathlete
Do you think its possible to love someone and have a great time with them but still feel something is wrong or missing? My family does not understand this concept. Can you love someone but not feel "in love" or is "in love" just a temporary feeling that fades anyway?

What's your experience?
 
I think it's possible to love someone and not be "in love." Look at your parents/siblings. However, it's depressing to think that you can "fall out of love" with someone you've been with for a long time. Is seems like that kind of love should last forever excluding some kind of abuse or infidelity.
 
I think you can love someone, but not be in love with them. I had a relationship like that once. It was not right for me. I am happy to say, for almost 11 - 12 years now, I'm with my fiance and I'm still IN love and head over heels for him. It's an awesome feeling being in a relationship where you are in love and I wish that for everyone.
 
Do you think its possible to love someone and have a great time with them but still feel something is wrong or missing?
Sure. There are different kinds of love. We have different connections with different people.

Can you love someone but not feel "in love" or is "in love" just a temporary feeling that fades anyway?
Everything changes, even a 50 year old marriage. The love between my husband and I has changed over the years. The hope is that we continue to evolve in the same direction. With some effort, that is possible. If not though...well then...so be it.
 
The feeling of being in love does fade. But loving someone is an active progression. With all the turmoil and temptation of life, Love is a choice. The love I share with my DH of 25 years is deeper and stronger and more meaningful than that of original feeling of being in love. Is our relationship perfect? Of course not, but at the end of the day, I can say this is the man I most want to be with.

Jean
 
Thats the kind of relationship my boyfriend and I have - at least on my end.

I was never in love with him, but I grew fond of him and do love him, but he doesn't make my heart skip a beat or my stomach to flip when he walks in the room.

We are a good match with lots in common. Similar interests and ideals and we have a good time together.
 
I don't disagree about the initial feelings fading and relationships changing over time. However, I have to say that my DH and I have always had such good chemistry (if you know what I mean) ;) and we had it from the start. We've been through good times and bad (many of both), but we still have that thing for each other.

And we just celebrated our 15th anniversary (15 is the new 50 these days), so something has held us together all of these years.

Sometimes you have a lot in common with somebody but you just don't click. If your attraction doesn't grow in time, maybe it will never be there.

No advice; just something to think about. Good luck!
 
The feeling of being in love does fade. But loving someone is an active progression. With all the turmoil and temptation of life, Love is a choice. The love I share with my DH of 25 years is deeper and stronger and more meaningful than that of original feeling of being in love. Is our relationship perfect? Of course not, but at the end of the day, I can say this is the man I most want to be with.

Jean
Exactly what I think! Very well said.

Missy
 
I've read how many adults still have that Happily Ever After idea about love, and this unrealistic expectation ends up leading to disappointment in their relationships down the road. I know I love the idea of Love At First Sight, everlasting through the ages, unyielding loyalty, etc.

Kathryn mentioned chemistry, which is a great point. I do believe long lasting relationships have this mysterious, baseline chemistry. And as she pointed out, I'm not sure it's something you can cultivate over time.

That said, I don't think this chemical connection is enough by itself to keep people together through thick and thin. That's where Jean's reply fits nicely. Eventually, two people choose to stay together and make the effort to stick with it, through all the changes we experience.

So perhaps the best ingredients for love is Chemistry + Commitment. :)
 
IN Catholic school we used to scoff that we were taught that sex was only 2percent of a marriage, yet you could have it annulled for lack of it.........well, my husband and I were NOT friends first - we were a physical attraction that I had never felt before, being an uber corporate feminist, never boy crazy in my life, hadn't dated much and what happened when I was with him left me powerless - and THEN over a couple years as we got to know each other and find we both loved animals, kids, simpler living, I was hooked.......2 kids and 20 years later - yeah, the sex is 2 percent - lol....but....but....the attraction is still there - the deep connection and feeling of inevitability is there.....also, as I got older , I realized that you don't have an "other half"...you have to be whole yourself and find your way next to someone...I find when I was in my 30's and lots of couples I see in their 20's they expect more from the other person than to be the average foibled human and are crushed when they're not the dream we've conjured them to be and feel them to be in our mind when we are in the "in love " part....

Having said that, I think you can have a strong marriage without the underlying wierd tie that I know my husband and I have, in fact, probably a more productive partnership too, but I guess I'm glad to know that once in my life I understood that bond....I don't expect I ever would again.
 
So perhaps the best ingredients for love is Chemistry + Commitment. :)[/QUOTE]

I think that this *is* the right computation!

I think that loving someone and being "in love" with them are different, though they can occur at the same time. I love a lot of people..my mom, my fiance, girlfriends, guy friends, cousins, relatives, etc. I am "in love" with my fiance. His smile makes me smile. His comfort makes me comforted. The thought of him makes my day brighter.

All that said, though I hope it does last forever on its own, I think that it takes work to make that feeling last forever and I think that it cultivates into a different kind of "in love." Maybe not a toes tingling, but a knowing they are there when you need them or knowing that you are never alone.

Yet, in the complete opposite direction, my grandparents still had that little glimmer in their eye when they smiled at each other until the end of their days. It seemed so matural for them and it never seemed to lessen. They're my hope that when it is right, it is easy :)
 
One of my first "loves" turned out to be more like a brotherly/sisterly love than one of infatuation and everlasting.

Yes, you can definitely love people of the opposite sex, just like you love people of the same sex, but not be in love with them.

ITA Chemistry + Commitment + the same Goals in Life are what makes it work.

Some like to spend every minute together, some don't need to. Some need to have all the same interests, some don't need to. Some can merely coexist (because they are so independent) and some it doesn't work for them.

You need to weigh out what works and is most important for you and go from there.

AND PLEASE, don't let your family decide what will work for you or what is RIGHT for you. Only YOU can decide that.

Input is great, decision making should not be left to them. You will be the one living YOUR life.
 

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