Have you ever met someone who made your heart race and your mind spin, leaving you unable to think of anything else? It’s easy to call it love, but is it really? Love and infatuation are both powerful emotions, but they are fundamentally different. Understanding the distinction can save you from heartbreak and help you build healthier, more meaningful connections.

What Is Love?
Love is unselfish, patient, and kind. It grows slowly, like a steady flame, allowing time for trust and respect to deepen. Love isn’t about perfection but about valuing someone for who they truly are—the good and the flawed. It inspires you to become a better person and thrives on mutual giving and understanding.

True love allows for disagreements but values resolution. It’s found in consistent kindness, honesty, and shared growth—not fleeting excitement.

What Is Infatuation?
Infatuation, by contrast, is like a wildfire—intense and consuming but often short-lived. It focuses on surface traits like, “Oh my goodness, I love girls with the big old butts,” or, “Her BBL is on fire.” Physical attraction is fine, but is that all there is? Ask deeper questions:

Is she loyal?

Is she going to be a good mother?

Her makeup might look flawless, but does she pay her bills on time?

Does he mistreat waiters or have a bad temper?

How does he treat his children from his former relationship?

Does he even contact his children?


Do you really want to be with someone who has no emotional ties to their children? If someone has children from a former relationship, they have the right to spend time with them. And if you’re not prepared for that, then don’t date or marry someone with children—period.

Infatuation often begins with love-bombing—grand gestures designed to create dependence. It feels exhilarating but blinds you to red flags, leaving you emotionally drained when reality sets in. Infatuation thrives on fantasy, where someone seems perfect, even when their actions tell a different story.

How to Tell What You’re Feeling
Love grows steadily, while infatuation burns brightly but fades quickly. Ask yourself: “Am I idealizing them, or do I value their character?” Real love values connection, trust, and shared commitment.

Infatuation might light the fire, but true love is what keeps it burning.