4 Tips What Does It Mean To Love Someone

We swooned when Tom Hanks met Meg Ryan atop the Empire State Building in Sleepless in Seattle. Our hearts broke when Andrew Lincoln confessed his love to Keira Knightley through a series of signs in Love Actually.

Of course, these are all examples of perfectly scripted Hollywood love. In movies and on TV, when two characters fall in love, despite a few bumps in the road, they usually experience a seamlessly happy ending. But what does it mean to love someone, really? As you might know, it’s a bit more complicated than what you see on the big screen.

# When you really love someone, you’re there for them no matter what

Loving someone means you have their back and support them in all of their endeavors, big and small.

If they want to quit their job working in finance to pursue their true passion as a barista, you’re their first customer. If they need to move across the country to help take care of a sick family member, you help make the transition as smooth as possible. You might not always agree with them, but you will always support them. Why? Because they’d do the same for you.

# When you really love someone, you deeply trust and respect them

Loving someone requires trust. A deep level of trust like this comes more easily to some people than others, and that’s ok. Discovering how to strengthen your relationship’s trust can take time and work. Respect is important too. Without it, you can easily lose sight of what’s important and hurt each other’s feelings or act impatiently when times are tough.

Trust and respect go hand in hand. You see, it’s much easier to trust each other when you respect each other. And respecting each other is a no brainer when you are confident in your relationship. Of course, every relationship will have patches, some good and some bad. But these two qualities see the relationship through to the other side.

# When you really love someone, their happiness is your happiness

When wondering “what does it mean to love someone?” ask yourself this: does it make you happy to see them happy?

Some couples will tell you that the secret to long-lasting love is putting your partner’s needs over your own. We agree, but we tend to think of it more like this: The secret to long-lasting love is making your partner’s happiness, your happiness.

# When you really love someone, you fiercely protect your relationship

We hate to break it to you, but once you find true love, the work still isn’t over. Relationships require work, and the most important work is protecting the love you share and built together.

This means maintaining the good and nipping the bad in the bud. It means abiding by the rules you establish together and respecting your relationship’s boundaries.