Love can be a tricky thing, especially with all of the complicated aspects of it. One thing about love that seems to be the trickiest, is when do you actually say it? It’s only three little words and some people might even say “who cares? It’s words, just say it.” But, to some other people, it is so much more than that. Being in love with another human is a magical experience and feeling, it can also be scary too though. You probably have all of the “what if’s” in mind, “what if they don’t say it back?” “what if they don’t actually love me?” “what if the timing isn’t right?” and most likely, a million more questions running through your mind.

Another common question about when to say it is “how many months should you date someone before you say it?” While the average might be a few months, to some people it might be sooner and it might be way later. It all depends on you and your significant other. All of the answers to your questions will ultimately depend on how you feel and how your S/O feels. Obviously you want your partner to feel the same way that you do, but sometimes, that’s just not the case. You might want to say it after two months, but maybe your partner waits until five months. This doesn’t mean that your partner won’t ever love you back and maybe you say it first and they don’t feel ready to say it back, but give them time. Everyone falls in love in their own way and on their own time. Sometimes it takes people longer to really feel their love for another human and to feel comfortable communicating those feelings to them.

Sometimes in those unfortunate cases, however, your S/O doesn’t ever feel that love back. That is okay, too. Your heart might feel broken if they don’t love you back, but you can learn from that relationship. Take that heartache and know that one day someone will love you back with their whole heart and wait for that person. If you truly love someone, tell them because you should be able to express your feelings with the person you’re in a relationship with. Even if they don’t feel the love back for you right now, they should still appreciate your feelings and your openness and not make you feel negatively for expressing your emotions to them. I said it before and I will say it again, love can be a tricky thing, but at the end of the day if you love another human being… you should just tell them.