Love is such a broad concept that it would be almost a mission impossible to try to define it. Concepts like wanting and loving are often used to define the affection we have towards someone, be it our partner, friends or family. But how are these two concepts that can be very similar?
What is wanting?
The verb want has ten different meanings according to the RAE. One of them defines the term as “to love, have affection, will, or inclination towards someone or something.”
In the sense of a couple’s relationship, when we start to meet someone a series of feelings and emotions appear that are usually of great intensity. These feelings are shaped and changed over time, and can turn into other affects that we do not feel at the beginning of the relationship.
Once we start a love relationship with someone , it is often said that we enter the phase of infatuation. From here, the normal thing is to move towards stronger feelings that settle in the relationship towards the other person. Here arises the feeling of wanting, which will be decisive for a relationship to move towards greater steps.
This feeling generates the need to love that person, be with them, get their affection and be part of their life. The feeling of wanting implies wanting something or someone, although sometimes it has nothing to do with the couple’s relationship and the term expands to other types of affective relationships.
Therefore … What is love?
Loving is the act of expressing love. It refers to feeling a very intense and prolonged affection or affection for someone. In this attitude of love, although it can be associated with different types of love, such as that of a mother to her child, it is normally associated with the feeling of a partner.
Loving involves adult management of our emotions and relationships, which often begin with a feeling of love, progress to a deeper feeling of love. This feeling is capable of creating a stronger bond between two people and can make the relationship last in time if the feeling of love is great.
The big difference that many experts explain about wanting and loving, is that in the first term there is a kind of feeling of possession towards the other person in a relationship.
However, when that relationship evolves and love appears, other feelings appear united such as loyalty, trust or respect, and not only do we want it, but we give ourselves completely to it.
