You can’t stop thinking about them
Work meetings, the laundry, walking the dog, watching your favorite TV show: whether it’s a significant part of your day or something more mundane, your thoughts drift to the person who’s become the most important one in your life.
You miss them when you’re apart
Even if your new partner’s just nipped out for coffee and a breakfast bagel, you lie in bed or stand at the window listening for the sound of their key in the door. You cross your fingers that there won’t be a line in the coffee shop and pray that no neighbor waylays your paramour for an inconveniently-timed chat.
You’re infused with energy
Falling in love is a little like acquiring a super-power. You feel like you can do anything and that anything – no matter how boring or mundane – is bearable, or even downright exciting, as long as you’re together. You probably sleep a lot less, smile more at strangers and generally give off a feel-good glow.
You mention them all the time
It’s one of the very first signs, and sometimes occurs ever before you’ve admitted your feelings to yourself. Yes, it’s the namedropping. No matter the topic of conversation or who you’re talking to, you find a reason to drop your love interest’s name into the chat.
You can relax when you’re with them
Finding the right person is like finding the last piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly, everything makes sense, any tension you’ve been feeling eases, and you probably also feel safe in a way that you haven’t since you were a very small child. All of this adds up to a sense of relaxation that manages to coexist perfectly with the heady rush of new love.
Your friends ask to meet up without your partner
There’s a stage in every relationship when friends – sometimes diffidently and sometimes more firmly – ask if you can all, please, meet up without the new partner. The request doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t like your soulmate. It’s more that they want one brunch or evening out when it’s just the original crowd.
You put yourself off the market
Whatever you’ve been doing to find a new partner, you stop doing it. You come off the dating apps, you stop thinking up chat up lines for the cute guy or gal who works in the next office, and you set your Facebook profile to “In a relationship”. In extreme cases, you even stop clocking attractive people who walk by you on the street.
You want to know everything about them
If you stop to think about it, you can’t stand the thought that there was a time when the two of you weren’t together. Worse, that there was a time when you didn’t even know each other. Finding out everything you can about your new partner is your way of remedying that situation as far as it can be remedied.
You over-analyze
In extreme cases, the over-analysis we’re all prone to in the early days of a new relationship can become a full-on freak out. If you’re lucky, your over-analysis will be restricted to parsing each word in every new text message for hidden meanings. You know you’re down bad when you’re wondering whether your partner’s mention of Paris means they’re about to suggest a romantic mini-break.
You feel better about yourself
Perhaps you’re prone to considering yourself somewhat on the unattractive side. Maybe you usually think you need to lose a few pounds, take up a new hobby or go after that promotion. For a while, though, in the heady early days of falling in love, you feel really good about yourself in particular and life in general. After all, you’ve scored the perfect partner.