Love vs Lust: How to Tell the Difference

Love vs Lust: How to Tell the Difference

Love is emotions and behaviors characterized by intimacy, passion, and commitment. It involves closeness, intimacy, attraction and affection. Lust is the craving for sexual satisfaction that drives humans to seek out sex partners. Lust is driven by a hormonal desire for sexual gratification.

You may feel an undeniable connection to somebody and think that it’s love at first sight. It is important to note, though, that there is a clear difference between lust and love.

Love 💓

Love can vary in intensity and can change over time. It is associated with a range of emotions; examples are happiness, excitement, satisfaction in life and euphoria. Love can also show some negative emotions such as stress and jealousy.

If you’re experiencing love, you will want to spend time with this person in a non-physical way, including bonding time, going out to eat, having conversations about long-term goals, or doing other things that are not sexual in nature.

Lust 💋

Lust is an intense sexual attraction to another person.

2 types of love

• Passionate: is a state of intense desire to be with a person. Other features are emotional and sexual passion. This type of love is usually distressed when the relationship starts to have problems.
• Compassionate: strong feelings of intimacy, affection and commitment toward another person. It is often slow to develop and can be seen in close friendships and long-term romantic partners. Companionate love involves the brain chemicals oxytocin and vasopressin which are associated with pair-bonding, like in the relationship between mother and child. 

Signs you are in love

• you think of interesting things to tell each other
• You look forward to meeting friends and family
• you share vulnerable, tender things like challenges you are facing
• you know that if you live in different cities for a few months it will be okay
• you can’t wait to see them again
• you can’t stop smiling
• you daydream
• making plans for the future
• being willing to sacrifice anything for your partner

Signs of lust

• when you think of the person, your thoughts immediately go to what your bodies do for one another
• when you think of the person you start smiling, feeling flushed, have sensations of excitement, and being turned on
• as soon as you see one another you want to kiss
• you don’t necessarily have much in common, but when you are touching it really doesn’t matter
• your obesssive
• you miss them incessantly
• you think they can do no wrong
• you don’t really know them and they don’t know you
• deeper connection isn’t on your radar
• you feel intensely driven to tear the other person’s clothes off
• having frequent thoughts about having sex
• you are extremely attracted to somebody on a physical level 

Lust is an intense feeling that dominates our thoughts and can drive us to do things against our better judgment in order to satisfy this desire. Signs of lust include spending most of your time with a partner being physically intimate, having little interest in their life outside the bedroom, and having different values. 

How to tell the difference

Love vs Lust: How to Tell the Difference

• Why are you interesting in this relationship? Lust alone is interest only in the partner sexually. Love is interest in getting to know the person over time.
• How do you feel about a person’s flaws? Lust loses interest when you discover a person’s flaws. Love accepts a person’s positive and negative qualities.
• Does the relationship get better over time? Lust is about immediate gratification. Love develops trust and commitment over a long period of time.
• Where is the thrill coming from? Lust enjoys the fantasy and excitement of the interaction. Love feels risky and vulnerable because it involves opening yourself up and letting yourself be known
• How secure do you feel in your relationship? Lust can be impulsive and desperate. Love tends to be steady and secure.
• Do you feel obsessed? Lust is a high that can feel like an addiction and consume all your mental space. Love holds a more balanced perspective and allows for the ability to maintain a balanced life.

Conclusion

Lust and love share a number of similarities.  They can both occur in the notion of a relationship. 

The main difference between lust and love is that lust is purely sexual attraction while love is both passionate and compassionate. 

Love vs Lust: How to Tell the Difference

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