Sometimes, it is very difficult to differentiate what it is for someone to like you or to love you. You can be so close with someone and you don’t know when to move from one stage to another. So how do you tell the difference between liking and loving or when someone says they like you or they love you?
Well, one major difference between liking someone and loving someone is that liking someone happens quickly, and love usually takes a process. We learn to love people, it does not just happen. When you meet someone new and see some attributes about him or her you fancy, it means you like them, but you can’t suddenly love them from that time until you learn more about the person and be ready to accept everything about them.
To avoid misreading ‘like’ for ‘love’, take a look at the following 15 differences between love and like.
15 differences between liking and loving:
1. Love: You sincerely want to listen to the person
When you are in love with someone, you pay attention to little details. You always want to listen to them. When you are together, there is no boring moment.
Like: Sometimes you are bored around them
When you are together, there could be boring spells which would most likely be followed by feelings of awkwardness. This is a clear difference between liking and loving someone and should be noted.
2. Love: It happens over time
It takes a while to fall in love. You have to be with the person and accept everything about them.
Like: it happens overnight
Liking a person happens so fast that sometimes we confuse it for love. You can like someone by just seeing them for the first time but to love, you have to know them a bit better.
3. Love: It goes beyond the physical appearance
When you love someone it goes beyond the physical attributes of the person. Even when they are not that physically endowed, you don’t mind. You can be together and don’t even think of having sex with them.
Like: Connection is mainly based on lust
It’s all about physical appearance. And sometimes, it’s built on lust. Only sex connects both of you. You can just be friends with benefits and nothing more.
4. Love: You are genuinely happy with them
When you are with someone you love, it’s genuine happiness. You don’t have to start spotting errors. Even when you do, you tell them in a very nice way. You can’t do without them; they are the major source of your happiness.
Like: You are conscious around them
If you just like someone, you will be so conscious around them. You like being with them but you can do without them. They are not the major source of your happiness.
5. Love: They see you as a potential spouse
When you love someone, sometimes you see them as your potential partner even if you are not dating them already.
Like: They see you just as friends
6. Love: You want to always listen to the person:
Like: You pretend to always listen to them sometimes. And moving forward, this is a difference between liking and loving anyone which should be easily noticed.
7. Love: You accept every flaw
You accept everything about the person. Both the bad and good. That’s what makes love interesting. It’s unconditional. Even when you are hurt by the person, you take out time to analyse the situation and try to forgive them so as to move on. And when you hurt the person, you feel remorseful and try to amend your ways just to make the person happy again.
Like: They get turned off by some things you do
When you like someone, you don’t accept their good and bad characteristics, you just live with it till when you can.
8. Love: You see them in your future
When you love them, you see them as part of your future. Anything you think you will do, they are part of it. You make plans for them in your future.
Like: You see them in your dreams
Well, you might not see them in your future but you will see them in your dreams. It’s just likeness, so you might not see them as part of your future.
9. Love: You try to correct them
When you love someone, you try to correct them when they are doing something wrong. You don’t try to be too controlling but you want them to be the best version of themselves.
Like: You tolerate their mistake
If you only like someone, you tolerate their mistake. You might try to correct them but you don’t want it to ruin your friendship and you just tolerate it.
10. Love: It grows the more you get close
The more you know them, the more you fall in love with them. It grows more with time.
Like: Fades when the level of closeness increases
The more you get close to them, the less you want to get closer to them. This is because you are not planning any future together. Communication will plateau.
11. Love: They are the center of attention
When you love someone, you see no one else. They are the only thing you think of.
Like: you still have eyes for others
When you like someone, you still have eyes for other people.
12. Love: It endures distance and time
Another difference between likeness and love is that love endures distance and even time. Even when they change location, you will still love them.
Like: It lasts when the person is around
But for likeness, it can fade away when the person is no longer geographically close to you.
13. Love: You are possessive
The fact that you love someone makes you take them as yours and when you see them with other people, you start to feel jealous.
Like: You understand that they are not yours
You understand that you don’t own them. Even when they are with someone and you are jealous but can’t let it out.
14. Love: It’s hard to move on
When there’s an issue, if you love someone, it is usually hard to let go of them.
Like: It’s easy to move on
If there is an issue, it is easy to let go of them
15. Love: You’re head over heels for them
When in love, you feel that sweet sensation. You feel that butterfly-like feeling in your stomach when you are with them. You always want to be and talk with them. There is an intense deep emotional feeling that you feel when you are in love. Oxytocin is there to trigger that sweet feeling you feel.
Like: You don’t feel crazy for them
But when you just like someone, you don’t feel any of those. You can do without seeing them for a long time.
What is ‘like’?
‘Like’ is when something catches your eyes. It’s when you approve of something.
If you like someone, you enjoy their company and you feel affection for them but that does not mean that you cannot do without them.
What is ‘love’?
Love is an intense feeling you feel for someone or a thing. Love is not always romantic, it is always unconditional. Love involves attraction. When you are in love, it feels like you can’t live with the person. You are attached and intoxicated.
Can you love someone but not like them?
It is possible to love someone but not like them. You can find someone who is everything you’ve ever wanted. They have the perfect body, the perfect smile the perfect everything. But when you guys start to get close, you will notice that they are so many things you don’t like about them. You would want to spend the rest of your life with them but the things you don’t like about them will keep playing in your head. This will make you not like them enough to want to spend the rest of your life with them.
What’s more than liking someone?
Infatuation is more than liking someone but it is not love. It feels like love but it is very short-lived. Love usually comes very slowly but infatuation comes fast. You don’t even want to get to know them but you feel like you want to spend the rest of your life with them. This is why it never lasts. So when you meet someone you know, what you feel for them is more than like. If you don’t wait to get to know them, it cannot develop to love. It will just be an intense foolish and obsessive strong feeling for someone or something.
Can you love and like someone at the same time?
Well, the perfect kind of love is when you love someone and like them at the same time. When you like someone, you like to be with them, you are happy to be around them. When you are in love with them, they mean everything to you, you just don’t want to be around them alone. You want to spend the rest of your life with them. So you can love someone and still like them. That’s the perfect kind of relationship.
How do you describe a loving person?
A person is seen as loving when they are very caring, a great listener, generous, etc. They are kind to everyone, even strangers. A loving person is usually very friendly, they are very affectionate. They care for others as they care for themselves.
Can liking someone turn into love?
Liking someone can turn into love. In fact, liking someone is the first step of love. When you meet someone for the first time, that attraction you feel is likeness because they appeal to you and you approve of some things about them. But when you get to know them and start developing feelings for them you can fall in love with them.
What is the difference between ‘I love you’ and ‘I like you’?
When people say they love you, it means that they have seen your good and bad parts and they have chosen you to be part of their lives forever. But when people say they like you, it means they simply are happy that you are in their life but might not want to spend the rest of their life.
What are the signs of liking someone?
When you like someone, you find them attractive and feel the urge to get to know them better. They might not be yours but you are happy whenever you are with them. When you like someone, you compliment them. You want them to become even closer to you. You also want to see what you like about them often, it could be their oratory abilities or any other skill or physical attribute.
What are the signs that you’re in love?
If you are in love with someone, you want to spend a lot of time with them. You are intensely curious about them. You forget your other priorities. They are your source of happiness. You see no one but them. You believe things will last forever and you tell everyone about them. When you start showing these signs, it means you are in love.
Final Notes:
Liking someone is like the first stage of love. You have to like someone before you can love them. And even in cases where you love someone and later find out you don’t like them, it’s because you might want to spend the rest of your life with them but you don’t find their attributes appealing. When you are in love, you have the sweet sensation feeling your head.
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