Love vs. Infatuation

Can you tell the difference between "love" and "infatuation"?  We all think we can tell but when you are in the middle of it there is really a skewed perception.

My thought is that we start out infatuated and then it grows deeper.  But if it weren't for that infatuation, none of us would ever say "I do" except if we are just sick of being single and we are settling.

In the movie Someone Like You, Ashley Judd's character reads an article about cows and how a male will not mate with the same female twice no matter how hard they try to get it to.  She compares these males to humans and says that men always want "new cow".  This was a joke in my family but recently I have come to find that it is very true.   I should say that it doesn't just seem to be with men though, it is just an epidemic of stupidity that we all seem to have.  People and love seem to be disposable to most people now.  No wonder people get married and divorced repeatedly.

Infatuation makes you do stupid things, it makes you forget things that matter.  It makes you compromise what you always believed to be true because it feels so strong.  It pulls you in ways you never knew you would go.  The worst thing about it is that it makes you do some shady things while justifying it in your mind because you can't reason well.

Love wants what is best for you.  It makes you a better man or woman, a better parent, a better human in every way.  True love is not selfish at all.  And true love knows that if it isn't right in this time or place, it let's go so that the people can be healthier in the long run, even if it hurts in the moment.

So, if you are infatuated and it is making you be a crappy parent, sibling, friend, child, or employee maybe you should see it for what it is.  It is easy to be infatuated.  We are all flattered by someones attention and time.  A new relationship is exciting but that excitement should not be mistaken for love.  If anything, we owe it to our children (if we have them) to be selective because they are going to be involved and if everyone can't be pretty stable then think twice.