Am I In Love? | Teen Ink

Am I In Love?

September 26, 2011
By DanielleMitchell BRONZE, Sarnia, Other
DanielleMitchell BRONZE, Sarnia, Other
2 articles 1 photo 6 comments

This is the question most people ask themselves throughout there whole lives. To what may be a physical attraction to one human being may be 'true love' to another. Some people fall in and out of love quickly while others never really know if there in love or what there feeling is just lust. Some people may just like the thought of being in love and use others for the title of being a boyfriend or girlfriend.
This question may be the most confusing amongst the most, especially in teens who are just discovering relationships and the word love may be thrown around too often these days leaving teens feeling unloved, broken or even worthless. But for teens the word love is a new concept them and they don't know what to expect. Especially when most relationships are based on social pressures or even on media pressures. Such as in most movies the most popular girl in school must date the quarter-back on the football time.
What is love? What makes you want to be known to other people as there boyfriend or girlfriend. How do I know if I'm in love? How does love end? All of these questions can't be easily answered.
Lust is the most confusing 'love' there is. Lust is powerful, an extremely intense feeling towards another human being. Lust is mainly sexual in nature, someone we can easily fantasize about. It's common or people of all ages to misunderstand lust for love. But why? If lust is just based on sex and physical attraction then how do we get lust and love mixed up constantly? No one knows. Lust is just about physical attraction and acting ONLY of that physical attraction. Love is much more than that.
Yet many teens and adults misunderstand lust or love. It may be mixed up since of pop-culture sells sex and love as one package. And I believe this is why lust and love are continually mixed up.
Lust is clearly not love. Love is much more. Love is about friendship, caring for one another, commitment and trust. Now your probably thinking about your best friend or even neighbour but love also when you feel physically attracted to that one person. Love is the best of BOTH worlds. Love is totally surrendering your most inter thoughts and feelings with that one person. Someone you can see having a future with and never seeing yourself unhappy. Love is the most beautiful thing on earth.
But the question still remains, how do you know if you are in love? And that is a question only you yourself can answer.


The author's comments:
When I wrote this piece I had two people in mind. My best friend who I lusted after for 2 years and my current boyfriend. I am hoping that people will read this article and see that lust isn't a form of love because lust doesn't have trust, commitment, or any regard for the other person. It's just lust. I can't stand seeing teens cry or commit suicide for something that was just list and not true love.

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This article has 6 comments.


J. said...
on Apr. 24 2014 at 3:53 am
I think what you had said is totally true... people nowadays cannot differentiate between love and lust. sadly... they take advantage of love to fullfill their lust. but the thing you said about not knowing if you are in love or not is slightly disagreeable... this is not a critism but i think you can feel it deep inside ehrn you are really in love. some can realize it by just looking at the person... some feel by touch and there are some who recognize it after a long term friendzone... you can surely know if you are really in love or not... if you are looking at the right one... :)

ALenny GOLD said...
on Oct. 15 2011 at 12:42 am
ALenny GOLD, Melbourne, Other
11 articles 0 photos 12 comments

Favorite Quote:
Colour my life with the chaos of trouble.

I thoroughly enjoyed key elements throughout your article however i feel you should personalise it more. You've listed things that you feel only come from being in love as opposed to lust, however many people, myself included, would disagree with some of the defining characteristics that your view point is based on. 

I feel as though you've left this article open to criticism by not defining love as opposed to lust but rather stating key differences. Clearly you believe in love, i feel as though you need to be more convincing that love is more then lust.


Mickey said...
on Oct. 13 2011 at 2:14 pm
it makes so much sense and is completely true. It catches your attention. You never know of your in love or just dazed by the appearance of someone. One never know if your in love.

BluBliss GOLD said...
on Oct. 9 2011 at 9:00 am
BluBliss GOLD, New York, New York
14 articles 0 photos 161 comments

Favorite Quote:
Bella's love for Edward was like, "Omg. He's hot. He's mine because he sparkles. Now I'll brood the wholle book while I'm with him."

I like it. well, duh i like it. I wouldn't be reading it an getting to the end if i didn't like it. This article probably will act as a sort of shield for me when I get older, as my only knowlede of love, being a tweenager, is through media and magazines, who REALLY screw love and lust up. Just some criticism, though, alot of the words are misspelled. You probably know this already, but hey, it makes a difference. ;)

on Oct. 9 2011 at 8:43 am
DanielleMitchell BRONZE, Sarnia, Other
2 articles 1 photo 6 comments
Yes I completely understand :) I appreciate the critisim, I will fix everything that needs to be changed. Again thank you :)

on Oct. 3 2011 at 10:51 am
Midnight_Hum SILVER, Hearne, Texas
5 articles 0 photos 48 comments

I really, really like the topic of this article and I think that it is something that is extremely understated in today's society (sadly).  Yeah, I'm a guy so I can totally relate to this.

On the writing side, though, I wasn't much impressed.  I don't usually notice grammatical and spelling mistakes because they ain't my strong points eether (lol).  But this article was riddled with misused usages of 'there' and words in place of other words ('time' in place of 'team').  Most of these are simple mistakes that would easily be corrected if you had read this article out loud before you posted it.  Structurally it wasn't the strongest either.  I would recommend putting in maybe a few more examples of what 'lust' and 'love' are, with maybe some personal stories from your own life (that relate to the topic). That would enhance the powerful message behind the topic.

So as it is, I don't think this has a shot at getting published in TI mag.  However, the topic is fairly original and I think that a well written article like this has a shot at winning the POV contest in TI.  So rewrite and revise, please.  This is a message that ppl need to hear.  Good luck!