Passionate Love: What It Is, the Signs & Why It’s So Strong & Scary

Have you experienced a love that feels all-consuming and overwhelming in a good way? This passionate love is often what you see in romance movies. 

Passion is an extremely strong emotion. There’s a reason why people often compare love to a drug. Oftentimes, it feels like you’re on a constant high of emotions – which is what makes it an addicting feeling.

You can feel passionate love in your very bones, and it’s not easy to get rid of once it’s there. You might think that this only happens in the movies, but there are a few lucky ones who experience this kind of love in their lifetime. 

Of course, if given the chance, you should definitely experience this kind of love at least once in your life. While it can be intense and overwhelming, it’s the kind of intense that feels good. It’s the constant rush of emotions that makes passionate love so exhilarating to feel.

The sad truth is that not everyone gets to experience this kind of love in their life. Most people choose to settle for mediocre love, which is the opposite of what love should make you feel.

[Read: What does love actually feel like? 24 feelings you just can’t deny]

What is passionate love?

Passion is a very powerful emotion, which is what makes it so different from your average kind of love. Passion is so strong that not everyone can handle its intense and overwhelming nature. When you feel passion, you feel alive, happy, excited, euphoric, and driven – all at once.

Passionate love doesn’t just settle for making you feel one specific emotion, but it’s the combination of different emotions simultaneously.

This is what makes it as powerful and dangerous as it is. Passionate love isn’t always perfect as it can also get you to stay in unwarranted relationships.

Most often, passionate love also proves to be short-lived as the desire you feel often gets replaced with feelings of warmth and comfort for the other person. It’s a good thing though, because a love that’s based on nothing but passion is almost not love at all, but a powerful addiction that can hurt you instead of help you. [Read: The 26 kinds of relationships to define your love life]

Why passionate love can be the strongest love of all

With passion being one of the strongest emotions a person can feel, and love being right up there with it, putting these two feelings together can make for one hell of an unbreakable pairing. It can either be the best experience in your romantic life or an unimaginably terrible one.

There’s a reason why passionate love is the kind of love the media chooses to portray to its audience.

1. It inhibits your logical thinking

It’s actually been scientifically proven that when you fall in love with someone, your frontal lobe basically shuts down. This part of the brain is responsible for your logical thinking and decision-making skills, so quite literally, you don’t even know what you’re thinking or deciding when you’re overcome with passionate love.

This is why when you’re in love, you’re capable of doing the craziest things for someone unconditionally. Whether that’s going across the country to see them or having a weekend getaway even if you barely know them. Love makes you quite literally take unusual and spontaneous decisions for someone. [Read: What are you feeling? Is it love or lust?]

2. You make the best out of every moment 

Passionate love, as much as you want to feel it for a prolonged period, will only last for a short time so you end up making the most of every moment. This allows both of you to really open up to each other in ways that you normally wouldn’t so early on in a relationship.

Passion is responsible for things like opening up about vulnerable details in your life, going on spontaneous dates, and just basically making the most out of everything.

You feel on top of the world every time you’re with them, and you take advantage of every moment you feel this way. It’s powerful in the way that makes the two of you put everything aside in order to focus on each other, even if for only a fleeting moment in the grand scheme of things. [Read: You’ve hit the four months relationship mark – What should you expect now?]

3. You almost turn into a different person

Again, passion affects the logical part of your brain so it’s only natural that you can change into a different version of yourself. Maybe you’re more optimistic or you’ve learned to be more adventurous. You begin saying and doing things that you normally wouldn’t do in a million years.

Your old self would’ve probably judged the way you’re acting right now because of how different you are. Don’t worry, it doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. You never know, you might even end up more confident because of that change. 

4. You don’t make the best decisions

Passionate love can give you some of the greatest feelings you’re ever going to experience, but it can also turn your decision-making skills into mush. You probably couldn’t resist saying yes to every opportunity that presents itself, even if that means sacrificing a few important priorities in your life.

This means that you could make some terrible decisions *like getting married after only a couple of weeks* that you would normally avoid if you were thinking clearly. Truthfully, people in love don’t make the most logical decisions. [Read: How to take a relationship slow but not so slow that it ends]

5. You risk a lot more when you’re in passionate love

If you’re usually not the type of person who takes risks without comprehending them first, passionate love will encourage you to take more risks than ever before. We’re not just talking about going on a spontaneous beach trip together or possibly moving in together right after you just met them.

You could also forgo protection during sex and could end up having a child with someone, only to realize that the two of you could never work out. Unfortunately, this realization comes only after the passion has subsided.

You’ll likely end up taking a risk you might regret for the rest of your life, which is why passion isn’t always a good thing. [Read: Newsflash: Women hate condoms just as much as men do]

6. You’re more vulnerable

Another danger of passionate love is how vulnerable you can become. While it’s normal to be vulnerable and let down your walls after a significant period of getting to know them, doing it too quickly can do more harm than good. Passion can make you unlock all the barriers to your deepest, darkest secrets.

You should never rush being vulnerable and transparent with the person you’re dating but unfortunately, passionate love can encourage you into spilling all your secrets on your first or second date. In the same respect, this could also lead to other complications and even heartbreak if the other person doesn’t have the best intentions.

The world isn’t always a good place and people can use your dark past and weaknesses against you. They can use this as leverage into taking advantage of your kindness and pure intentions. 

7. You can mistake fleeting, passionate love for the real thing

Unfortunately, so many people mistake passionate love for the real thing. This is the one point in this list that makes it very dangerous to hold on to passion as the basis of a relationship with someone.

If you choose wrong, passion can make you settle for toxic and unhealthy relationships, just because they fuel you with exhilarating emotions momentarily.

The truth is that sometimes, the most passionate love you can have isn’t really love at all. It’s so easy to confuse passion with love because of their similar concepts, but they’re actually very different from one another. You can be passionate about someone without loving them first.

This can be terrible because you can make decisions with your significant other, thinking that they’re the one you’re going to be with forever *like getting married*, only to find out that it wasn’t true love at all. [Read: What is lust? The typical signs and how it slowly turns to real love]

8. You can ruin a great thing if you go too hard too soon 

It’s no secret that passion drives relationships. It’s the force behind the first move, the first kiss, and getting in the sheets for the first time. However, when you use passion for all the wrong reasons and go too fast too soon, you’ll sabotage the relationship entirely.

It’s so tempting to skip all the necessary stages of a relationship, but it’s likely going to end up crashing just as soon as it started. It takes time to get to know a person, develop trust and respect, and all the necessary factors that make a relationship work.

As beautiful as passionate love is, it isn’t enough. If there’s too much passion behind your actions, you could end up ruining the relationship before it truly has time to develop into something beautiful. [Read: 20 speedy signs your relationship is moving too fast towards its early end]

9. It can completely change your perception of love

Passion can make you feel so on top of the world that lacking the experience of it can lead you to believe that love doesn’t exist altogether. After someone falls madly and passionately in love, they will have a completely different perception of what love truly is.

Even if passion isn’t the sole foundation of real love, it gives you an abundance of what love can feel like and lead you to have hope that love does exist. Passion can make you understand love on a whole different level—one that you may not have even known existed.

10. It can encourage you to stay in the wrong relationship

When a relationship proves to be the wrong one for whatever the reasons, you end up staying. Passion is such a powerful force, but not a lot of people realize just how powerful it can be. You end up staying with someone because they make you feel that constant high and low of passion, but what happens when it fades and vanishes?

Passion can make you feel like it’s more than enough to make a relationship work – until it’s not. It can trigger the connection and attraction between two people, but it won’t suffice in making the relationship work. 

11. It brings out your best traits

There’s no denying that when you’re in love, you tend to feel the adrenaline rush that comes with better confidence and a happier personality. You feel like you can accomplish anything you set your mind to do because of the passion coursing through your veins.

It makes you feel like you don’t have to hold anything back, and it’s why people in passionate relationships act so differently. If you’re usually a boring and rigid person, passionate love leads you to do the craziest things – which can be both a combination of good and bad things. 

12. It can drive the longest relationships *with the right person*

The best and most powerful thing about passion is that if you’re with the right person, passionate love can fuel a relationship to last longer than you can ever imagine. When you’re with the right person, passion and desire is always a lurking feeling.

While they may be replaced with feelings of warmth, friendship, security, and longing, passion will always be there right along with them. If you’re with the right person and the passion transitions from a flaming fire to a slow, burning love, it can last longer than a lifetime. It can last an eternity. [Read: 10 signs you’re compatible with the one you’re dating]

Signs of passionate love

If you’re wondering if what you’re feeling right now is passionate love, take a look at these signs below, and you’ll know for sure in a minute.

1. You feel like you’re on top of the world whenever you’re with them.

2. You tell them things you normally wouldn’t share with anyone else, not even your friends.

3. You’re willing to be spontaneous and reckless with them.

4. You’re on a constant high of emotions and you don’t believe it will ever end.

5. You show a lot of affection towards one another – both in public and private. 

6. You feel like your relationship couldn’t possibly get any better than this.

7. You’re feeling an obvious spark or chemistry between you.

8. You feel like you’ve known them for a significant period, even when you just met them. 

9. You have so much fun together. 

10. Your relationship feels nothing like the average relationship everyone talks about.

11. You’re confident they’re obsessed with you just as much as you are with them. 

12. You want to know everything about the other person – past, present, and potential future. 

[Read: 34 passionate signs you’re both making love to each other and not just having sex]

So, is passionate love enough for a relationship to work?

It’s the single most powerful and all-consuming emotion you’re ever going to feel, but it won’t be enough to make a relationship work.

It can lead to a maddening and intense love but no matter how powerful passion is, several factors contribute to a long-lasting relationship. Passion can contribute to the flame that keeps the spark alive, but it won’t suffice if it’s the sole basis. 

[Read: How to love someone right – A guide for new love, old love and every other kind of love]

Passionate love isn’t always everything in a relationship. It has its risks, but it can also lead to the most unique and extraordinary relationship you’re going to experience. Heed our warnings and tread lightly, but don’t be afraid to embrace your passion if the right one comes along.