Fall is cuffing season! New relationships are happening all around us with the beginning of the school year. Whether you are a new couple, have been going for a while, or are single. It is always good to brush up on your knowledge of love languages.
What is a love language? A love language is a way that a person likes to receive and give love. There are 5 different types of ways to give or receive love. These ways are physical touch, words of affirmation, quality time, acts of service, and receiving gifts. Keep reading to see what you should and should not do for each love language.
Love Languages are the way that a person enjoys receiving or giving love.
PHYsical touch
People who enjoy this type of love appreciate any type of physical contact. Examples of this are hand-holding, hugging, kissing, cuddling, and sex.
HOW IT FEELS TO RECIEVE: They feel protected and safe by this form of connection. Touch helps strengthen emotional relationships.
HOW IT FEELS TO GIVE: They enjoy physical touch and bear in mind what their partner enjoys.
WHAT NOT TO DO: Always ask for consent. Do not force physical touch or withhold it.
WORDS OF AFFIRMATION
People who receive love through words of affirmation enjoy compliments, “i love you’s” or social media engagement like texting and calling. Examples of this are “good morning” texts or compliments on their sense of style.
HOW IT FEELS TO RECIEVE: They feel happy and loved when they recieve praise from a partner.
HOW IT FEELS TO GIVE: They send texts and calls frequently and verbalize their feelings about the relationship/
WHAT NOT TO DO: Criticize your partner unnecessarily or withhold contact to elict an emotional reaction.
QUALITY TIME
People who enjoy quality time like to spend uninterrupted time with their loved ones where they really focus and connect with each other.
HOW IT FEELS TO RECIEVE: They feel loved when their partner wants to spend time together often. Things like eye contact, intent listening and open body posture help these people feel appreciated.
HOW IT FEELS TO GIVE: They focus their undivided attention on their loved one. They help plan recreational activities. and times to spend together.
WHAT NOT TO DO: Spend time on technology and ignoring your partner instead of connecting.
acts of service
These people feel loved and supported when others help them. They love when their partner helps make their lives easier. This could be as simple as making coffee in the morning or getting groceries for the week.
HOW IT FEELS TO RECIEVE: They will feel supported and less stressed because of their partners actions.
HOW IT FEELS TO GIVE: The person doing the service feels helpful and good for helping their partner and the partner feels supported and heard by their partner.
WHAT NOT TO DO: Have an unequal balance of work. You cannot expect your partner to do everything for you.
receiving gifts
These people express their love through gift giving or feel loved when they are given a gift. Buying someone a gift can be very personal and touching.
HOW IT FEELS TO RECIEVE: They feel excited and honored to recieve something with personal meaning from someone.
HOW IT FEELS TO GIVE: Gift giving is an art. This act of thinking of a gift and picking something out for someone is very personal and displays a deep affection for the other person.
WHAT NOT TO DO: Forgetting important dates or not spending the time to think about the sentiment of the gift.
Keep in mind you can have more than one!
Now that you have this information you can ask your partner and loved ones what their preferred love languages are and let them know what yours are. It is normal to have more than one You can have more than one
Confused on how to figure out which love languages are for you?
Look through “How it feels to” under each language and think about how you’d feel if your partner did this for you or vice versa. You can also take a quiz!