Love Vs Infatuation

The ultimate dilemma of any youngster is to categorize his/her feelings into the similar, yet very different, brackets of love or infatuation. A young mind may consider every liking to be a case of pure, undying love. He/she would see any attempt to dissuade him/her about the truth of this “love” as an insult to their feelings. Where does the thin line between love and infatuation lie? How do we know one from the other? Though it usually takes a considerable amount of experience to completely demarcate the two, there are some basic differences.

Infatuation is a feeling that has a reasonable basis. One can point out exactly what one likes about the object of one’s affection. Good looks are the most common reason behind an infatuation. Intelligence, personality, a cheerful disposition or a great sense of style are other things that might lead one to be infatuated by someone. However, the one thing common between most cases of infatuation is that the glow of the positives usually casts a shadow on the negative aspects of a person. In other words, you are temporarily blinded to all the wrongs of the person in question.

Love is quite the opposite in these cases. Though it may seem like an unreasonable liking, you will eventually realize that what attracts you might not necessarily be good, but along with the aspects of your personality, those characters will go perfectly. That is, what matters is not the absolute, but the relative. What appears flawless to you might be perceived as worthless by someone else. Love is about finding a perfect match to your temperament. Also, love does not allow us to be ignorant about our partner’s wrongs. On the contrary, it is something that makes us want to seek and reform those imperfections – together.

An infatuation or a crush is an attraction mainly to the surface, be it physical or mental. There is no understanding involved. It is said that you can never love anybody without knowing them as well as they know themselves, and once you know someone that well, you are bound to be in love with them.

Mere physical attraction is often mistaken to be love, especially by teenagers. Love is much deeper and much more complicated than that. Love is never-ending, whereas a crush fades almost as fast as it arises.

The most important test of love is its strength. Love must pass the test of time. Something that vanishes in a month or a year is nothing more than an infatuation. Love must endure occasional pangs of jealousy. Even the truest and most trusting of lovers can become suspicious at times. The reason behind this is that a true lover will always consider his/her partner as more desirable than any other person in the world and this can sometimes make them be uncertain of other peoples’ intentions towards their partner.

Love is an unblemished emotion while an infatuation is sometimes just lust masquerading as true devotion.

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