Something strange happens to us when we start to catch feelings for the new guy we’re dating (or hope to be dating soon). It can be hard to think clearly when we’ve got cartoon hearts in our eyes, and more often than not, we revert right back to our teenage selves when it comes to puppy love.
- We play sappy love songs. The songs we couldn’t listen to when single (because they only made us feel lonelier) are now the front-runners on our playlists and we belt the lyrics out like giddy school girls while playing cute relationship scenarios in our minds.
- We take extra time to get ready. Standing in front of our closets obsessing over choosing our cutest outfits becomes routine. We don’t just throw on the first thing we can put together. No way —we’ve got to carefully select what he sees us in, sometimes even consulting Pinterest for help.
- We read our horoscopes even more religiously. Because we need to read intentionally vague predictions to further daydream about the possibilities we’re pursuing. And sometimes on multiple sites, just to be sure. Oh, and look up our zodiac compatibility just for fun.
- We start liking and sharing the sappy Instagram quotes. You can totally tell when a girl is caught up in feelings by what she’s sharing or posting on her social media. Suddenly, all those happy and lovey-dovey couples quotes get our likes and shares because we totally caught the feels.
- We sing the happy Taylor Swift Songs in the shower. We’ve switched from T-Swift’s breakup songs to her happy-and-in-love singles. Tay Tay always just gets us and no matter what we’re going through, she’s got a song for it.
- We wake up smiling. There’s seriously no better feeling for a woman who’s into a new guy, especially if he’s feeling the same excitement. We wake up happy about the day ahead instead of dreading it.
- We buy pretty new underwear. Finally! Someone to justify those cute lacy things we’ve been eyeing but convinced ourselves before that we didn’t truly need. Now when we walk by Victoria’s Secret and see they’re having a sale, we remember that we actually DO need to pop in there. Not that we didn’t buy cute underwear before, but now we can be a little more daring. Plus, we need ones to match those cute outfits we’re now carefully choosing.
- We actually enjoy hearing happy romantic moments. Aww look, Sally and George got engaged! Like! Oh my gosh, it’s Bill and Courtney’s five year anniversary! Like! Everything we cringed at when we were alone without prospects, we suddenly support as if some mystery black magic has overtaken us and turned us into wildly optimistic and totally sappy relationship people. Damn, what’s happening to us?
- We watch The Notebook. Some of those girly romantic movies are just not suitable when we’re painfully alone, but as soon as we’re dating Mr. Awesome, we don’t hesitate to hit play and cry ourselves silly over Allie and Noah, because we’re in a place where we can handle it.
- We’re obnoxiously happy. OK, maybe even sometimes annoyingly so, but the feeling when we truly start to like someone and it’s reciprocated isn’t just scary, it’s also fun and exciting and we can’t help revealing some of our idiosyncrasies that come to the surface in the process of falling for and becoming hopeful for that new guy in our life.