Difference between love and infatuation

Difference between love and infatuation

Introduction

Love is a feeling that comes from the soul and the heart while infatuation is a feeling or emotion that necessarily has hormonal triggers. For example, you can always be infatuated with someone when you see them without really understanding them or connecting to them. However, to truly love someone you will need to understand their hopes, dreams and aspirations along with connecting to them in some individual way. You are generally infatuated with someone of the opposite sex while you can love just anyone.

The difference between Love and Infatuation

Infatuation comes with a fleeting feeling that often evaporates when you are required to sacrifice something precious to you or it simply fades away with time. Love, on the other hand, can make you sacrifice absolutely anything without a second thought and only grows stronger with time.
Often, young people confuse infatuation and love. Most marriages that are based on initial attraction fail while those that are founded on the emotion of love last a lifetime. Infatuation focuses on the growth and satisfaction of the self while love focuses on the growth and satisfaction of the other.

Infatuation is completely based on a physical need and dissipates once that is over while love encompasses a sharing that may or may not include some sort of physical interaction. Infatuation leads to materialistic goals while love leads to spiritual ones.

It can sometimes be difficult to tell the difference between infatuation and love. This is especially true at the beginning of a relationship. It is easy to think that you have found true love as the intensity of infatuation takes over your life. Love, however, rarely comes on suddenly. It is a slow, gradual process that can only happen after the rush of infatuation starts to ebb.

Infatuation describes the intense range of feelings present at the beginning of most relationships; sweaty palms, rapidly beating heart, butterflies in the stomach. The world is a better, more beautiful place because object of your affection is with you. Every time you touch is thrilling, you remember every conversation, and your thoughts revolve around them. In more common terms, this is a crush. Crushes are a very real, normal part of human life. Everyone experiences at least one crush at some point or another in their lives.

Infatuation is caused by a chemical reaction in the body. The hormones released accounts for some of the feelings of elation. In truth, you are “high” on dopamine. This is an important evolutionary response to meeting a potential future mate. These hormones assure that two people will spend enough time together to possibly produce children, thus ensuring the survival of the species.

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between falling in love with someone, and being infatuated with them. This list of the top ten differences between love and infatuation, should help those who are having trouble discerning the difference.

1 – Love stays. Love is something that takes time to grow and grows stronger over time. Infatuation is like a bomb that goes off and then is gone.

2 – Infatuation is superficial. Infatuation is all about the moment, about attraction and desire. It’s about wanting immediate gratification and sometimes pain. Love is about the future and security. Love is about happiness.

3 – Love is mature. Love is something that starts out small and just keeps on growing. It is strong, like a giant oak, as compared to infatuation, which is more like a weed that grows really fast then dies out of lack of fuel.

4 – Infatuation is obsessive. Obsession and infatuation are practically the same word. To be infatuated means to be momentarily out of your mind. Love is just the opposite. It’s about feeling secure and grounded and knowing exactly how you feel.

5 – Love is beautiful. When you’re in love, you feel strong, full of life and happy. You feel secure and beautiful. With infatuation, you’re full of anxiety and worry.

6 – Infatuation is scary. When you are obsessed with someone, you are equal parts desire and fear. You want them, but fear you might lose them. Or fear they might disappoint. You fear a lot of things. With love, you have no fear of anything, because you’re secure in the arms of the one you love.

7 – Love is only the beginning. Love is a journey, one that you share with another whose heart is in your hands. Infatuation is about getting through today and hoping tomorrow will be good too.

8 – Infatuation is chemical. Obsession is all about bodily chemicals and neurons firing and thoughts flitting in and out of your mind before they have time to settle. Love lives in the heart and moves slowly, evoking warmth and smiles.

9 – Love is secure. Love is knowing your heart is for another, and that your love is returned. It is a shared thing. Infatuation can stay awhile or go, there is no way to know.

10 – Infatuation is fun. But love is happy.

These top ten differences between love and infatuation are for anyone who is in the throes and isn’t able to tell if what they feel is one or the other or both. If you are such a person, I hope this list will help you decide. Good luck.

Conclusion

In summary, love is seen as infatuation to some people because once they meet someone and have some reactions within them, they mistake these reactions as feelings of affection, hence infatuated. For one to be in love, it needs understanding and a long term relationship, not just meeting someone and assuming you are in love because of the physical attributes one sees.