Are you in love or are you playing it safe?

I know this is somewhat a contradicting question -- when you are in love you feel safe, taken care of and confident. However, that's not truly what I am asking. When I say the idiom playing it safe, I mean avoiding taking a risk. Are you no longer following your heart and settling?

A lot of times, people feel like they are obligated to love someone because they have been together a long time. At this point, you might not be in love anymore. You might just be in love with the idea of them and are attached, but that isn't love.

You have to look deep into your relationship and truly evaluate it.

Love isn't perfect. Once the honeymoon phase (or cupcake phase, as I like to call it) ends, sometimes people feel like they no longer are meant for each other or like some spark has been lost. That could be the case, but you could also just be realizing that your significant other is human. They have faults. They don't actually look super hot 24/7. The way they chew bothers you. You want a night away from them, but you still are utterly and completely in love with them.

Unfortunately, some people do fall out of love (or were never in love to begin with) and the two find themselves settling and playing it safe because what they know is comforting -- what they know is each other.

I am not a love expert. But I am in love with love.

Evaluate your relationship by asking yourself questions you might not want to ask yourself and truly think about your relationship.

Do you think of your significant other when you listen to sappy love songs?

Do you legitimately picture a future with your significant other?

Do you automatically look towards you significant other for comfort?

Do you trust them? Can you tell them anything?

Does your significant other make you feel important, special and one of a kind?

I am not writing this because I think everyone needs to break up. I am writing this because I want those who are truly in love to appreciate one another and realize what a special thing they have found within each other.

For those of you who feel like you may be settling, is it time to take a risk? Is it time to start being fair to yourself and your partner? Life is short. If I'm going to tell someone I am in love with them, I am most definitely going to mean it. While we are young, we should make sure we mean what we say and truly feel what we say.

Go take risks. Go be in love with being in love. Go be young.