Overall, our generation might be a little lazy, selfish, sensitive, and social-media-obsessed, but there's one thing we are good at that no one can take away from us. We are good at understanding love; after all, 67% percent of us millennials are in it. Most of us college students are in, or have been in, relationships in which we fell madly, deeply, and overwhelmingly in love. While not all of our relationships end in marriage (like a lot of our grandparents first relationships did) we do know what love is, and after interviewing several college students I realized that we can't agree on what love is exactly, but one thing we can agree on is that it's an indescribable feeling. Here are what several college students have to say about being in love and falling out of it; real-life love stories that will either tickle your heart, or hit you right in the feels. Enjoy.
What does being in love mean to you?
"Being in love means you are willing to be selfless. You will commit to the person wholeheartedly. You will give them trust, respect, and kindness. You may be willing to sacrifice some of your needs for theirs, and work out compromises." Senior, 22
"To me it means always being there for and supporting each other. You should want your significant other to be happy even if it means doing things you don’t want to do." Freshman, 19
"Being in love means feeling nothing but content, and finding pure happiness within another person." Junior, 20
How would you describe the feeling of being in love?
"It feels like happiness. When you are always doing things to make them happy, and seeing them happy makes you happy, too." Senior, 22
"Being in love makes you feel complete. You feel understood, cared for, and safe. You feel like you're on a high, a high that can't compare to any other feeling. It's a feeling you've never felt before, it almost makes you feel invincible." Sophomore, 19
"It's caring for someone so deeply that they're the only person you're willing to put before yourself." Junior, 20
When did you know you were in love? Was there a specific moment that you knew?
"I saw him walk down the airport stairs and a rush came over me, my arm hairs stood up. I was in grade twelve when he told me he loved me, and I couldn’t bring myself to say it back to him until that moment. The first thing I said to him after 3 months of not seeing him was 'I love you too'." Junior, 20
"I realized after about six months of dating. There was no specific moment that I knew, but I just loved doing everything with her and I would do anything for her." Senior, 22
"I knew I loved him when we were out to eat and he asked me, 'So what do you think about population control?' Being asked such a deep, thought-provoking question made it so clear to me that I had fallen in love with him." Sophomore, 19
How would you describe the feeling of falling out of love?
"It's kind of a bitter sweet feeling, it's sad because someone is such a huge part of your life and then all of the sudden they're not. But at the same time you know you're not together anymore for a reason, so falling out of love with them is sort of freeing." Freshman, 19
"I don't know if you truly do ever fall out of love. I mean sure after a while you realize you are capable of achieving happiness independently, but does the love for them ever truly go away? I guess falling out of love can be a long process, or maybe it takes falling in love with someone else to truly fall out of love. After all, if you fall out of love, did you ever truly love them in the first place?" Junior, 20
"Falling out of love is slow and heartbreaking. You care for the person deeply, but realize that they are not the one for you at that time. It’s quite tragic because they were such a huge part of your life and you have to let them go." Senior, 22
When did you know you were falling out of love? Was there a specific moment that you knew?
"I knew I was falling out of love after I was cheated on. After the incident, the entire relationship changed. It made me see a different side of him that I had never seen before and that’s when my love began to fade. It is sad because you want to love them, but how can you do that if you don’t trust them?" Senior, 22
"I knew when I no longer loved him like I used to when I no longer felt like I needed to or wanted to be talking to him all the time. Also, when his questionable actions didn’t even make me mad anymore. When we broke up I was very okay with the change." Freshman, 19
"I feel like every relationship has its up and downs, but there wasn’t a specific moment in which I fell out of love. Our paths were, and at the moment still are, too different for a relationship to exist. I mean obviously the love I had for her is not nearly as significant as it used to be, but I feel like some level of feelings will always be there." Junior, 20
