"You don't really love her!"

"You're way too young to be falling in love!"

"If you fall in love you are going to be hurt!"

These are just some of the things that I hear people say. As I was sitting here thinking about what drives a person to call someone out on their age or tell them how they are feeling, I came to a pretty simple conclusion: it is absolutely okay to fall in love and we should do it over and over again. The real question that I find to be on our minds is "what does it feel like to be in love and how do you know?"

In my opinion, this is a fluid question. I don't believe that just one answer will line up to the standard of actually answering that question to the fullest. Everyone I ask that question gives me a completely different answer, usually referencing some love stories they reminisce on during the conversation with me.

There is such stigma around love. You have to be a certain age, hold a certain level of maturity, be at the right time and place in your life. But who's to say? Love is something worth experiencing no matter the circumstances. I'm tired of hearing people call me out when I say I'm in love. Why is love so guarded and protected?

Growing up, we are told that there is a time when we will fall in love. Princess movies and books explain to us that we get one perfect moment where love shines and that's the only time we get to experience it. One time, one way, one person. Love is said to be a dangerous burning desire and that's why we are cautioned from its guarded properties.

Who's to say I am too young to fall in love? Who's to say that I don't know what love is? Do you? Who has the right to tell me that I can't fall in love because I might get hurt. I'm tired of being lightly tossed over the idea of love so that it doesn't hurt me. Everyone says it's not worth the hurt so early on in life, but I say getting burned is most definitely worth feeling the warmth. It's worth staying up until 5 in the morning on a school night with my eyes glazed over to hear every word the person I am on facetime with is saying. It is worth messing with my sleep schedule to learn favorite places and how many siblings they have. It is worth skipping one class just to experience the way they get mad when the car in front of them is going too slow. It is worth not cleaning my room just to go to one of their games and see how their whole entire body ignites with a passion for that sport and their team. And it is most definitely worth calling in sick to work just to become familiar with the how the lines in the palm of their hands become sweaty when they have your hand in theirs.

I say it’s all worth falling in love. I say that experiencing the heart flutters and finding mutually creative souls is far more wise than tiptoeing around the signs of love that we are warned about.