You meet a boy while at a party. You both end up talking all night, dancing, laughing and just having a good time. You exchange names and numbers and go on your way. As soon as you leave he texts you and you text continuously after that for awhile. You start feeling really excited about this new thing that could be starting. It turns out he was not the guy for you because he stopped answering you and then you caught him hooking up with a new girl at the next party you both attend.

You feel heartbroken and question your own self-worth. This has happened to a majority of girls in this world and will continue to happen in this hook-up culture we all live in. However, you may feel heartbroken and that you were falling “in love” with that person but that is not true. There is a difference between love, like and lust and sometimes it is really hard to decipher between them.

Lust is not something people describe their feelings as when thinking about the people they are interested in. People either say "I like him," or "I love him." No one ever thinks of lust as a real emotion that could describe how you are feeling. To me, lust is that desire for someone that you have just started to get to know and what makes you interested in him or her enough to further the connection. A lot of the time when describing feelings saying “I like him” is too formal and not actually what the feelings are. How could you like someone if you are just starting to get to know him or her? At this part it’s more like “I lust him.” Even though that sounds awkward to say that is the truth of the matter. You lust after this person and want to continue to get to know them better so that maybe it will turn into something more serous like “I like them,” or “I love them.”

"Love" or "like," on the other hand, is a whole different story. To be able to say you like someone in an emotional way you must first actually know who he or she is as a person. You need to know what makes them tick and what attributes about them you especially like that you would not know after the first couple times hanging out. Love is something amazing and different all on its own. You need to know everything about that person and, just by an expression they make, know what is wrong. Love is hard to come by but when you find it hold onto it for dear life.

"Love," "like" and "lust" are completely different and we all should start using lust a lot more. I know that this means love at first sight is probably not a real thing and I am not a cynic when it comes to love but to truly love someone you have to know what actually makes them function and everything that you could not possibly know from first sight or a couple hang outs.