Feeling like you don't love anyone can stem from emotional numbness, a protective response to past trauma or stress, depression, or underlying aromanticism, but it's often a sign of anhedonia (inability to feel pleasure) or depersonalization where emotions are blunted, requiring professional help to uncover root causes like childhood neglect or anxiety. It's crucial to recognize this as a symptom that can often be treated with therapy to help you reconnect with your feelings and others.
Those who identify as aromantic may not feel love or a desire to participate in romantic relationships. It can be normal to identify as aromantic and isn't necessarily a sign of an underlying mental health problem. Aromantic individuals may or may not choose to have romantic relationships or close intimate connections.
The 2-2-2 rule in love is a relationship guideline to keep connections strong by scheduling regular, dedicated time together: a date night every two weeks, a weekend getaway every two months, and a week-long vacation every two years, helping couples prioritize each other and break daily routines to maintain intimacy and fun.
Emophilia is a psychological trait characterized by a strong tendency to fall in love quickly and frequently, driven by the rewarding sensation of being in love rather than a deep need for a specific person, often leading to rapid romantic attachments, overlooking red flags, and sometimes risky behaviors like infidelity or poor sexual health choices. It's a "want" process, focused on the excitement and dopamine rush of new love, differing from anxious attachment which stems from a fear of abandonment.
It's normal for feelings in a relationship to change over time, and sometimes people lose romantic feelings. You can try to reignite feelings by spending quality time with your partner and recalling why you fell in love. If both partners want to work on the relationship, couples counseling can be helpful.
The "65% rule of breakups" refers to research suggesting couples often separate when relationship satisfaction drops below a critical threshold, around 65% of the maximum possible score, indicating distress is too high to continue. While not a formal psychological law, experts use the idea to suggest that if you feel significantly unhappy (e.g., 65% sure the relationship isn't working), it might be time to consider ending it to create space for peace and something healthier, rather than staying in a failing situation.
Fraysexual means experiencing strong sexual attraction to strangers or people you don't know well, with that attraction fading as emotional intimacy or familiarity grows; it's essentially the opposite of demisexuality, where connection comes before attraction, and it's considered part of the asexual spectrum, sometimes called ignotasexuality. Fraysexual individuals often prefer emotionless or low-emotion sexual encounters and find their desire decreases with emotional closeness, though they can still form romantic bonds.
But it does provide some rough guidelines as to how soon may be too soon to make long-term commitments and how long may be too long to stick with a relationship. Each of the three numbers—three, six, and nine—stands for the month that a different common stage of a relationship tends to end.
Limerence, an obsessive infatuation, generally progresses through stages: Attraction/Infatuation, where intense fascination begins; Obsession, marked by intrusive thoughts and analysis of the {LO's (Limerent Object)} actions; Elation/Despair, involving extreme mood swings based on perceived reciprocation (dopamine highs) or rejection (lows); and finally, Resolution/Deterioration, where the fantasy fades into stable attachment, detachment, or significant heartbreak, often leading to personal change.
Heliophilia is a word that is commonly used to describe a love for or strong attraction to sunlight. It combines the Greek roots “helios” (meaning “sun”) and “philia” (meaning “love” or “affection”).
Relationships ebb and flow. Plus, if you and your S.O. survived the dreaded two-year mark (i.e. the most common time period when couples break up), then you're destined to be together forever…
The 777 dating rule is a relationship strategy for intentional connection, suggesting couples schedule a date every 7 days, an overnight getaway every 7 weeks, and a longer vacation every 7 months to keep the spark alive, build memories, and prevent disconnection from daily life. It's about consistent, quality time, not necessarily grand gestures, and focuses on undivided attention to strengthen intimacy and partnership over time.
1. Lack of Honesty. Often when we think of honesty, notably honesty in marital relationships, we think of a very tangible “where were you last night” kind of honesty. While this is obviously critically important, there are many other kinds of dishonesty that can destroy marriages.
Signs the spark is gone in a relationship often involve a decline in physical intimacy (less sex, touching, kissing), reduced or negative communication (criticism, stonewalling, no deep talks), emotional distance (feeling detached, irritable), and a lack of shared enjoyment or effort (avoiding time together, no dates, less interest in the future). It's a shift from excitement and vulnerability to routine or resentment, where the desire for deep connection and shared passion fades.
In a relationship, pocketing means one partner hides the other from their friends, family, and social life, keeping the relationship private or secret, like putting them in their pocket. It involves avoiding introductions, not posting on social media, and making excuses to keep the partner invisible to their broader social world, often signaling a lack of commitment, insecurity, or fear of judgment.
1 People who are lithromantic feel romantic attraction towards others, much like anyone else. They may daydream about someone they have a crush on, enjoy their company, and have romantic feelings for them. However, they don't wish for these feelings to be reciprocated.
Limerence has also been tied to trauma. Early childhood abandonment or neglect may correlate with the likelihood of experiencing limerence, and it has been associated with post-traumatic stress disorder as well as obsessive-compulsive disorder.
The 5-5-5 rule in marriage is a mindfulness and communication tool that encourages couples to pause and ask themselves: Will this matter in 5 minutes, 5 days, or 5 years? It's designed to help de-escalate conflict and shift focus to what truly matters.
5: Our Own Needs, Emotions and Desires.
The highest level of intimacy, requires the greatest amount of trust in our relationship. It is only when we feel truly safe with somebody, that we become willing to share the deepest core of who we are. It's up close and personal.
The 70/30 rule in relationships is a guideline suggesting couples spend about 70% of their time together (connection) and 30% apart (individual space), fostering balance by allowing personal growth and hobbies while maintaining intimacy, preventing both codependency and disconnection, and serving as a reminder that relationships aren't always a perfect 50/50 split, sometimes requiring different levels of effort at different times, though it's a flexible guideline requiring open communication, say Anchor Light Therapy, Instagram, couplesanalytics.com, and PODS.
“What Is The 60/40 Rule In Relationships?” . . Because when you believe in the 50/50 rule, you're looking to be even with your partner. When you're focusing your energy into giving 60% into your relationship and only expecting 40% back, that's when you've developed a healthy and successful relationship.
Take them in the spirit in which they are offered—as a a lens to think about your own relationship. This blog is part of a series on the five Cs: Chemistry, Commonality, Constructive Conflict, Courtesy and Commitment.
The acronym LGBTIQCAPGNGFNBA is an extensive, evolving term representing diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, standing for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Queer/Questioning, Curious, Asexual, Pansexual, Gender Nonconforming, Non-Binary, Gender-Fluid, Fraysexual, Non-Binary, Bisexual (sometimes), and Androgynous, with variations like adding a "+" for even more identities (Two-Spirit, etc.). It's a way to be inclusive of the vast spectrum of identities beyond the original LGBT, though some letters are used playfully or to emphasize specific identities, notes wikiHow.
Abrosexuality describes a sexual orientation that is fluid and changes over time. This means an abrosexual person's attractions to different genders, or even their level of sexual interest, can shift over days, weeks, months, or years.
Pomosexual describes someone who rejects or doesn't fit conventional labels for sexual orientation (like gay, straight, bisexual), preferring not to be categorized or feeling existing terms don't apply, potentially because they don't experience attraction in a way that fits standard definitions, or they simply don't need a specific label. The term comes from "pomo" (postmodern) and "sexual," coined by Carol Queen and Lawrence Schimel in 1997.