Having a boyfriend comes with many benefits, and perks you get to experience yourself. If you’ve done any of these things, don’t feel ashamed. We all have, trust me.

1. Get all giggly just thinking of him. 

When you’re sitting alone in bed while on your phone and you see something that reminds you of him— you can’t help but to giggle. 

When just the thought of him in general makes you giggle and smile to yourself. 

2. Getting all defensive when someone has a strong opinion about him.

Listen, friends and family try to look out for you, the best that the can, but if your boyfriend is not harming you, controlling you, talking down to you, or in general just being an ass to you, nothing bad should be said. As long as he makes you happy, and you are safe with him, you don’t need to worry about anyone talking about him. If they still do, go ahead and get defensive. He’s a great guy—I assume. 

If your mom tells you things like : “I don’t like the way he acts” or “you’re too into him” or even “what is he doing with his life?”, defend him. Yeah okay, she’s trying to make sure he’s a good guy but you already know that and if he wasn’t, you wouldn’t be with him.

3. Wearing his clothes and constantly smelling them.

Let’s be real, we all LOVE to steal and wear our boyfriends clothes. It’s even better when he gives some to us. Every girl loves to cuddle up in sweatshirts, t-shirts, jackets, and especially hoodies. When it’s your boyfriend’s however, it makes it 100x more awesome. Boyfriends smell great. Which means their clothing smells great. It’s okay to take deep sniffs when wearing their clothes. It doesn’t make you weird.

4. Sending him cute, cheesy text messages.

Okay let’s be honest for a second, when you’re  so in love, you tend to go a little overboard with those sappy text messages. “You mean the world to me”, “I wouldn’t be here without you”, “you’re my ride or die angel, I love you so much”, and even the classic, “I love you so much baby. You’re my everything” and all the classic emojis to go along with it (??????).  No matter what, we all send these cute messages to our man and if he’s cheesy and sappy back, he’s a keeper.

5. Feeling comfort just being in his presence.

Just being around your man is enough in itself. The fact that you feel an insane amount of comfort just being with him says a lot. You feel safe, secure, and just plain cozy when being around him. You feel as though you can survive anything and he will be your protector. You feel safe and you feel secure whenever he’s around you. Whether it be 10 inches away or 10 feet away, you still feel his presence and it calms you. Plus, when you’re having a bad day there’s nothing like being around your man.

6. His heartbeat is your favorite sound.

As sappy as it sounds, you know it’s true and don’t even try to deny it. Every girl loves to listen to their mans heart. It’s like code for “you’re mine and I trust you with my life”.

We feel comfort, peace, and value in doing this. You feel as if you could fall asleep right then and there on his chest. Sounds nice right about now doesn’t it?

7. Stare at him when he’s not looking and admire his existence.

When you’re with him you find yourself staring at him all the time? Yeah that’s perfectly normal. When he’s watching TV, getting all intense while playing video games, eating a burrito from chipotle, and even sleeping, it’s all being done so perfectly in your eyes. In all  honesty, he makes everything look nice. Even when he snores and keeps you up, it’s still like he’s an angel.

8. Imagining a future with him.

If you have a boyfriend, and you feel as though you can trust him with your life, it’s not uncommon to picture a future with him. For Gods sake you even see the future just looking into his eyes. It’s a magical feeling. You go to bed and dream of the day he proposes to you. You think of what your vows will be, how many children you want, what their names will be, and what genders you’re striving for. You also tend to daydream about living together in a house with 10,000 cats and cooking every meal together, going to bed late and cuddling up in the cold winter, and even doing the boring stuff like paying pills and going shopping for appliances. It’s all normal.

9. Fear the worst when you guys fight.

When you and your boyfriend fight, it’s the worst. It leaves you with a pit in your stomach, it leaves you feeling like you’re going to throw up, it leaves you with the feeling like your heart just got ripped out and stomped on. It’s completely normal to fear the worst when you guys fight. It’s okay for your emotions to go haywire and start to overthink. You know it’s true, you think thinks like “omg he’s going to leave me”, “omg is he going to realize I’m not enough?”, “I hope he doesn’t give up on me.”

All of these thoughts are normal but you just have to tell yourself that one petty fight is not going to break up your relationship. The only thing that will ever potentially break a relationship is cheating. Whether you have a fight over money, social media, or even who are the last slice of pizza, you just need to tell yourself that it’s just a small argument. Whether you are in the honeymoon phase or not, it’s not the end. You start to fight like an old married couple and realize it’s normal and nothing negative will come out of it. It actually helps you guys grow as a couple.

10. You can’t go a second without thinking of him / missing him.

Whether you’ve been dating for 5 months or 5 years you still can’t go a single second without thinking of him. You miss him the second you leave his sight. Whether you’re in the shower, driving on the highway, or sitting on the toilet, you find yourself always thinking of him. It seems like a fairytale but when you’ve found “the one”,  you never want to leave their sight.

There are many other things that I could list; it could go on and on but here are just a few. Love is an amazing thing and just remember, if you’ve done any of these things, it’s not uncommon and you shouldn’t feel like you’re weird.