Loving someone vs being in love are two very different factors. Love is an incredible feeling we all hope to experience in our lives. This wonderful emotion can be romantic, caring, and sometimes sacrificing. Love comes in all forms and sizes; it can be with different people at different times, sometimes with people, we would have never imagined. A person’s definition of love is dependent on their symbol of love and what they interpret love as.

Loving someone vs being in love is not always logical, and we can be in love or love people for varied unexplainable reasons. We all also have our own symbol of love. It usually starts with infatuation, almost obsession, and later when we learn about the person’s morals, fears, flaws, and qualities, our love starts to make a little more sense. Love transcends all time and persons, so once you have chosen to love someone it is not easy to walk away. 

The Experience

Learning the difference between loving someone vs being in love usually comes with age and maturity and often a few broken hearts. Having your heart broken is a pain we all want to avoid or never experience again, but it will teach you about love and yourself more than any book or school ever could. 

We are raised on fairytale expectations such as Disney and fairy tales, wishfully thinking love is easy and forever. The love stories we see can warp the truth that loves and being in love are the same thing. This cannot be further from the truth. The main differences between loving someone vs being in love are listed below:

• Loving is to love someone after considering how well they match you and your personality and expect them to reciprocate the same feelings.
• Being in love means the person does not always reciprocate the same love back.
• Loving someone is when you have taken a deep dive into their personality.
• Being in love often happens without your knowledge. It is not always a choice.
• When you love someone, you expect them to love you back the same.
• Being in love, the feelings are not always reciprocated, but you still want the best for them.
• With love, romance becomes a necessity.
• Being in love with romance is not always a necessity.
• Love has an expiration date if there is no equal commitment on both sides.
• Being in love can last forever if you are committed to your feelings.
• Being in love, sometimes the commitment is unbearingly one-sided.

Understanding The Difference

Understanding the differences between loving someone vs being in love and then applying this knowledge to your relationships accordingly will cement strong and lasting connections. We have found a few differences between love and being in love we wish we all knew years ago.

Firstly, being in love means you want someone. Loving someone means you need them. Being in love is sometimes very overwhelming, and the urge to be with the person constantly is almost all-consuming. Being in love is believing you need this person in order to be happy and find joy. It is almost obsessive.

When you are in love, your brain makes a wonderful cocktail of chemicals, making us feel like we are floating on a cloud. It is a high we never want to stop feeling but inevitably, what goes up must come down. Once you pass the stage of falling and being in love to loving the person, you need to let go of the constant high feeling and just enjoy the less frequent waves of pure elation when they come. And they do come. It’s just not the emotional state of ‘in love that only falling in love allows for. 

More About Loving Someone VS Being In Love

When you love someone, you not only want them but need them in your life, as a symbol of love. Their successes, health, and happiness are yours too. Being in love makes you feel you want to own a person but loving someone makes you let them own a piece of you. Loving someone is not ownership but wanting only the best for that individual. You motivate, encourage and inspire each other to be better people and to live life to the fullest potential.

Loving someone isn’t only about the emotions but the thoughts. Thinking about someone else, wishing the best for them, doing your best to make them happy, and caring for that person sometimes more than ourselves, is what love is. The emotions are just the perks that come with it. You need to embrace and accept each other’s flaws and bring out the best in each other.

The constant yearning for more is what makes falling in love so exciting. You want to spend every waking moment together and get to know the person inside and out. You are always wanting more and to build a secure and more serious relationship. Whereas when you love someone, there is no finish line. Unfortunately, nothing is finite. You cannot continue to progress and continue to build something forever. We need to reinforce what we already have. Being in love is not only understanding that what you have is all you need but want to strengthen your bond together.

When you are in love, your brain and body produce chemicals that make you believe that you are with the greatest person in the world. This makes falling in love much easier than loving. As the feel-good chemicals wear off, we are sometimes left a little confused and lost as they make us feel that this is the greatest specimen of human we have encountered. Being in love is a constant yearning and need, whereas loving isn’t such a constant reminder. However, life manages to remind us by keeping people apart or putting them in harm’s way. These moments of separation or loss can overwhelm us with emotions. At times we forget how much we love a person until life gently reminds us.

Head Over Heels

If you have ever fallen head over heels in love with someone, you know it’s just as easy to fall out of love. Being in love, romantic love is mostly the creation of our mind. Sadly, when you are in love, the reality doesn’t always line up with the ideas and thoughts we have romanticized about the person and relationship. Loving a person is what defines us. Those we love, that love us and care about the most are the ones who never really leave us. Some people may remove themselves or be removed from our lives, but we never just stop loving them or wanting what’s best for them. Their presence has had such an influence on our lives and shaped us into who we are. When you love someone, you do not just stop. That would be like losing a piece of yourself. 

Inlove VS Love

Loving someone vs being in love can be as simple as a gut feeling or as difficult as unlearning a lifetime of love lessons and past mistakes. Being in love is usually seen as the first stage of love, when you are infatuated and twinkle-eyed, when you will do anything on earth for your partner, and being apart feels like physical pain. In contrast, loving someone is a slower burn, but it is stronger and more durable. It is when you really get to know each other, support each other in life’s ups and downs and create an unbreakable bond. Always be true to yourself and do what makes you happy. That is really, in any form, what love is all about.