The difference between infatuation and love
The definition of Infatuation is an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for someone or something.
The definition of Love is an intense feeling of deep affection.
Infatuation usually occurs at the beginning of a relationship when sexual attraction is central.
Love is when one will have intense feelings for someone, and be connected to him on the level of mind, body, and soul.
They are both intense emotions so they're easily confused. Many people get these two mixed up very often. Some people can't really tell the difference between the two at all. At the beginning of a relationship, it's new, fresh, and exciting; therefore, the intensity of feelings that come with lusting after someone, or being infatuated, may cause you to think you’re in love. Many relationships will end after a few months when one partner realizes the excitement, or infatuation, has ended.
Comparrison Chart
- Symptoms of Infatuation: Urgency, intensity, sexual desire, anxiety, high risk choices, reckless abandonment of what was once valued.
- Symptoms of Love: Faithfulness, loyalty, confidence. Willingness to make sacrifices for another. Working at settling differences. Able to compromise so that either both win or at least give the other person's opinion a chance.
- Person to Person Infatuation: Reckless commitment to satisfy one's all-consuming lust.
- Person to Person Love: Commitment to another. Genuine intentions. Think about other person's feelings before acting.
- Infatuation feels like: All-consuming euphoria similar to recreational drug use (addictive chemical reactions in the brain), stupidity (cupidity). Can risk everything for the next hit of adrenalin.
- Love feels like: A deep affection, contentment, confidence. Partners communicate and negotiate appropriate expectations. Requires a lot of selflessness and polite assertiveness.
- Result of Infatuation: Emptiness, consequences of choices made while under the influence of mind numbing temporary lust.
- Result of Love: Security, peace, a solid partnership which can provide the ideal atmosphere to raise confident, secure children.
- Effects of Infatuation: Being controlled by brain chemistry, not the heart, loss of ability to make rational evaluations of what is true, valuable and worthy.
- Effects of Love: Contentment, stability.
- Time period of Infatuation: Takes off fast and furious like a spark in dry grass burns out quickly and can leave feelings of emptiness.
- Time period of Love: It will deepen with the passage of time.
- Infatuation & commitment: This is temporary in life and goes off after some period.
- Love & commitment: This feeling may continue throughout one's life.
The bottom line is...
Infatuation is delusional. It is not real. It is of the now, in this very moment.
Love is unconditional and the real deal. Love is a gradual process. It happens over time.
