How You Know If You're in Love

1. When they touch you and it feels as if they're touching your soul.
2. When you wake up and they're the first thing on your mind.
3. When you've had a long day, but they hold you and all your cares disappear.
4. When you make love and it feels like no one else in the world matters.
5. You both value each other's opinion and thoughts.
6. When you both sit down and talk before jumping to conclusions.
7. Thinking before you speak, knowing that the words can hurt, and sometimes words can hurt even worse than your physical touch.
8. You always give words of encouragements to each other, especially when they need it most.
9. You look forward to the future with them, as they do you.
10. Last, but not least, when you feel you can get through any storm with them by your side.

I wrote this list because I know what it's like to be in love with someone, but they don't love you back. It's a very hurtful thing to go through. But I also know what it's like for someone to love you back, to be just as in love with you as you are with them. If I knew what I knew now I would have waited on love a little while longer to come my way. I know in life we have to go through things; even the bad to appreciate the good. It just sucks all the stuff you have to go through with a person to prove you love. What I've come to learn is love is earned, not given away. When it is earned it holds more value and meaning. When it is given, it is taken for granted and not appreciated.

Knowing you are in love is the best feeling in the world. Knowing that person loves you back is a gift. Never take each other for granted. Sometimes you only get one chance at love, so cherish it. Cherish each other and make that time for each other.

People always say love yourself first before you want someone to love you. In so many ways that is true, but somewhere down the line, when we do fall in love, that goes out the window because we start depending on that person's love to get us through the day. Our plans change because we have found love. Even our thinking process changes. So if the love doesn't work out, and it fails, then that point something is ultimately taken out of you. You end up trying to find yourself all over again, putting on a brave face for the world to see, but dying on the inside. "Why?" you ask, well, it's all for the name of love. So to be in love, and for that person to have just as much love for you as you have for them, is a gift within itself. When you find that special someone, hold on to them, treat them right, love them unconditionally. Never take them for granted. Think before you speak. Make time for them as they would for you. Find the right solutions to both of your problems. Keep the door open for communication and let each other know you can talk to each other about anything.

Love is not a one-way street. It goes both ways. You have to give as much as you take from a person. You can't just have a physical connection, but you also have to have a spiritual connection. Love can give you the extra breath you need—or it can take it away.