What’s the difference between love and infatuation? How do you tell?

25 comments

1. Infatuation is just liking the idea of someone.

   Love is actually caring deeply about the person.

2. Infatuation is for now
   Love is wiping their ass, and cleaning their poop. Seriously.

3. Infatuation is knowing nothing about a person and being smitten with them. There’s an air of mystery about them – and their being attractive helps.

   Love is knowing almost all there is to know about a person, warts and all, and wanting to be with them despite their flaws.

4. You can tell but only after a year and half when the chemicals run out and it’s just you and her and a boatload of baggage that just suddenly caught up with you both.

5. Wait 3 months.

6. The way I see it, infatuation, an initiate mutual desire, is a seed of a relationship, while love is a tree that grows out of said seed if it is nourished by mutual respect, kindness and support.

7. You only know after you nut

8. Hope a female perspective isn’t unwelcome. Infatuation is selfish, while love is selfless.

9. Wait. If you’re still constantly thinking about them even after a while it’s likely something real.

10. Infatuation is what brings two people together.

    Love is what keeps them together.

    I was infatuated with a cute girl back in college. I asked her out after two months of working up the nerve. We were married the following year. Even then we were still infatuated. Love was there, but it really didn’t kick in till after about a year past our wedding–once we had time to feel each other’s faults. Ten years and four amazing kids later, we are still in love. There’s still a bit of Infatuation in the bakground, but we’ve been such a huge part of each other’s life that love is what drives us now. She’s still plenty attractive, just in a more seasoned and matured way.

11. 1. How do you feel about her outside of sexual activities
    2. Post nut clarity
    3. What all do you know about this person. Do you know enough to even attend a funeral for them or could you speak at the funeral.

12. The infatuation dies off and you make a choice every day to stay with someone. It’s unexplainable really it’s just a connection you have with somebody. It’s certainly not what is portrayed in the movies.

13. Love is when you are totally comfortable and happy with your partner.

    Infatuation is mainly ‘head in the clouds’ way of thinking, not *necessarily* sexual, but you want the idea of a person so much. I have too much experience with the latter.

14. Infatuation is based on feelings and lust.

    Love is based on sacrifice and meeting each other’s needs

15. Love isn’t real, infatuation is.

16. Infatuation is normally fleeting.

    You can think this person is the moon and the stars even though you barely know them and then 3 minths later you suddenly realise it was all hormones and chemicals and the spark is gone and you wanna go find someone else to get infatuated with.

    Loving someone is long lasting. Can often come from initial infatuation of course. But you know a person’s good and bad parts and still you think about them when theyre not there or do things to make them happy etc and its been 3 years ans you still love coming home to them. Spark may never have gone or if it did there was love there to back up working on getting it back without wanting to go look somewhere else.

17. Infatuation fades. Love does not.

    In my experience, only time will tell. (36, married).

    The thought of not having my wife by my side is both frightening and saddening.

18. For me personally, infatuation felt like a night out. Love felt like home.

19. Love is a demonstration, not a feeling. Trust and respect are what I believe love to be. As long as you have those two things, you can’t go wrong. The rest is hormones.

20. For me, infatuation is when I’m excited to see them and sleep with them and spend time with them that day or that upcoming weekend.

    Love feels more like I’m looking for them because it feels like home and I worry constantly about their well being as I feel it’s my responsibility to do as much as I can to make them smile and be content.

21. I was infatuated with a man before. Then we had sex, and my infatuation grew. The mere idea of him was so exciting and lovely in my own head. I wondered what he was doing all the time, what it would be like to call him mine, etc. But I didn’t *know* him. I didn’t know what it was like to argue with him, or wake up next to him every morning, or what his little annoying quirks were. I didn’t know his morning breath, or the way his farts smelled, or what made him laugh until his belly hurt. I only knew what it was like to sleep with him and to think he was cute. It was all very superficial.

    Now I’m engaged to someone else, and I know what love is. It’s knowing all of the bad things about a person, all of their flaws, coming to the realization that this person is far from perfect, and still choosing them every minute of every day. It’s about connecting with someone so deeply that when they cry, you cry. When they laugh, you laugh. It’s about creating and sharing a life with someone that even over time, when looks fade, wrinkles pop up, and skin sags, you still can’t wait to lay your head next to theirs every night.

22. infatuation is that feeling where nothing they do or say could ever be wrong..

    love is the feeling where even when you want to kill them, you opt to make sure they are safe and taken care of instead.

23. If you love someone, you want them to be happy.

    If you’re infatuated with someone, you just want them. You might actually want them to be miserable if you can’t have them, although not necessarily. Infatuation is not necessarily a bad thing: it can become love.

24. Infatuation is selfish. It’s how this person makes you feel. Love is doing good for the other person despite how you feel about them in the moment.

25. I was a serial infatuationist (sure, it’s a real word) and only when I met my current girlfriend did I realize how little they all meant to me. Sucks to say it but you’ll know when you find it