The Stages of Love

Love is everything.
Every love is unique. Every couple that embraces it differently, is unique. As everything in life, love has its stages too. Loving someone and building a strong and bonding relationship is not an easy job. It takes a lot of work on both sides. We all want to find the love of our dreams; the one that we are going to spend our entire life with. And of course we all start with the best perspectives for the future. As the relationship grows and changes, our emotions, love, goes through a few stages.

First off, we have the lust and infatuation stage – or just plain falling in love.

The first stage of love is just so exhilarating. It’s the lust that you have for each other that keeps you alert. The craving that you want to be with your partner all the time. The excitement of the new relationship. The passion that it is like an erupted volcano and the tremendous attraction that penetrates every cell in your bodies. You become needy, obsessive and often too jealous. You feel deeply and fully in love. This stage can last several weeks or several months. Sometimes the affair ends here after a storm of emotions, but there are couples that pass this stage and continue to the next.

The –more- intimate stage or getting closer.

As time goes by, the lust is declining and the novelty wears off. The love starts to grow. The relationship reaches another level. A more intimate one. The level where you are starting to learn more about your loved one. You have the desire to know everything about them and try to be a part of their lives. Coming closer as a couple makes the bond and the relationship stronger. It’s the stage that most couples decide to live together or even get married as they believe they found the love of their lives.

..But there comes the stage of the doubt.

Love starts to subside. Usually at that stage the couple, both or one of them, start to feel unsure about the relationship and the direction that it’s taken. You can become uncertain about the future and all of a sudden you starting to see flaws to one other that you didn’t see them before. You can say that it’s like your eyes are being opened, at last. It is the stage that you wonder where your original passion went and how can you bring it back. It’s a crucial stage, because if a couple overcomes it, that would mean that they are ready for…

The next … the love actually stage.

You passed stage three, take a deep breath if you made it, as you understand that nobody is perfect, not even you. So, you may have long conversations to resolve your differences if you are willing to go you relationship much further. If you succeed then you are going to have an even stronger bond. You will appreciate each other more and finally have a more mature relationship. Many couples stay at this stage for years.

Ever lasting love.

You’ve made it! Well done! You are at the final stage where you can feel that you have really someone by your side, someone to lean on. You know that despite the difficult situations, you have passed all the tests and you will live happily ever after. You are now a unit. Life can be hard at times, but you don’t feel alone. Usually, in order to reach this stage it may take you years or even decades, maturity and wisdom.

Love, is a feeling that it is born in us and by us. We help it evolve and grow, we allow it to wither and if we don’t nurture it, ultimately, dies. Help your love pass all the stages and if you get stuck in a stage it’s not a shame. Try harder, love more and be optimistic. Love heals everything.