Your 20s is really an amazing time to experience love in your life. You’re past the crazy, fluctuating hormones period of your teens, and you’re more open to new experiences than you will be at any other time in your life. It’s the perfect time to experiment with who and what makes you happy and learn about yourself. Going hand in hand with that is usually a romantic relationship or two or three… and each relationship brings something new to your life.
You’ll learn just how many different kinds of love there are out there and hopefully experience plenty of them. Here are just a few in particular that you should experience during this wonderful decade of your life.
1. Puppy love
We’ve all heard this term. More accurately described as infatuation, puppy love is an intense but shallow surge of feelings, also known as a crush. While puppy love isn’t the most meaningful type of love out there, it’s a very ardent feeling that is accompanied by the idea that your partner is perfect and can do no wrong. When they say that love is blind, this is the type of love of which that is true. Puppy love, or infatuation, is a superficial feeling that’s brought on by little more than chemistry and a few conversations. It’s the stage of intense kilig where you have butterflies in your stomach every time he looks at you, and you start to believe in love at first sight. While puppy love can grow into something deeper eventually, it’s nice to just appreciate the intense romance of this totally innocent type of love.
2. Passionate love
Passionate love is the type of love that is intense and spontaneous. It’s usually prominent at the start of a new relationship where lust runs high and all you two can think about is being alone together. It’s a sinfully delicious feeling where you shiver every time your fingers brush against his and you’re driven mad with the thought of physical contact with him. Passionate love is kind of the carnal opposite of puppy love; where puppy love is pure and innocent, passionate love is erotic and sexy. As with puppy love, though, passionate love isn’t enough to sustain a real relationship and it will have to grow into something deeper if the relationship is to last, but it sure is a lot of wild, tantalizing fun while it lasts.
3. Platonic love
Platonic love is the love you feel for your best friend, your mother, or your sister. There are no romantic feelings involved, but it can be just as strong if not stronger than any other type of love. When you love someone platonically, you want to protect them and care for them and you will do anything you can to make sure they are never hurt by anyone. Instead of being based on looks, chemistry, or romance, it’s foundation is in mutual respect and admiration for each other. It can be felt for anyone, male or female, older or younger than you, related or not. It is the most pure type of love that there is and it’s likely to outlast a lot of your romantic relationships. Everyone needs to have this type of love with someone in their lives, especially when you’re in your 20s and trying to figure life out.
4. Unconditional love
This is the type of love that fairy tales are made up of. Unconditional love will make you believe in soul mates, even if you never did before. When you love someone unconditionally, you truly want them to have the best of everything in life, and you strive to be the person that can make all their dreams come true. When you experience unconditional love, all the love songs you’ve heard will finally make sense to you. You’ll understand how someone can do crazy things like quit their job and move across the world to be with someone, because you know that you would do it for your partner, too. It’s not easy to find this unconditional love, and it takes a lot of work to get there, but when you do have it, it’s beyond worth it. This is the type of love that you should feel for the person you end up marrying someday.
5. Self-love
One of the most vital types of love that we should all experience in our 20s is that of self-love. It is so important during this stage in your life to learn to love and accept yourself, regardless of what people may or may not think of you. Loving yourself is the key to finding happiness in life, and you have to love yourself before you can experience the other types of love in their best capacity. Self-love is realizing that you deserve happiness for yourself and being able to work on getting it. When you love yourself, you will able to stay true to your own heart and surround yourself with people who love you for what makes you you. This is the time when you should focus on doing the things that make you happy and healthy, realizing that you don’t need to depend on anyone else for validation. Be who you want to be, and the people who are meant to be in your life will be drawn to you because of it.
Love is a beautiful, wonderful thing and there are so many different kinds of it out there. Your 20s are the best time in your life to experiment with love and learn what makes you happy, hopefully learning that your happiness depends more on yourself than it does on anyone else. You don’t have to rush into anything; just take your time becoming who you want to be and enjoy the different relationships and types of love along the way.
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