We all experience love differently, but though love shapes us many ways, it shapes us with the same style. While love can feel beyond words, there are some things to be said about it.

Love is great. Love makes life beautiful. Love makes life wonderful. But love isn't everything. Love makes difficulties more bearable, but love cannot solve your problems.

Love has two components: friendship and sexual attraction. Friendship is shared interests, day to day conversations, and a blanket of caring that warms you both. Sexual attraction is the physical charge between your bodies-- crushes, flirting, fantasy, and physical contact. It's the nervous feeling in your stomach before talking to the person, your heart beating faster the moment you see him or her, and the magic waves of emotion at his or her touch. Friendship is being able to talk about anything without fear of judgment and knowing he/she will be there for you.

Friendship makes love "true." Without friendship's caring, relationships are only sexual. While "zero commitment" may sound fun, it usually isn't. Once you start messing around sexually you want him (or her) to care, but if he/she didn't care to begin with, messing around will only make him or her care less. People generally don't respect "easy" catches. You control the balance between friendship and sexual attraction.

Love is not a good reason to have sex. Lust is the desire to have sex. A lot of teens think having sex "proves" feelings, but if you're truly in love, the "proof" is your love. "Making love" doesn't make love; going farther sexually just means you can't restrain yourself from your body's desires, and that-- lust-- is not love.

Sexual experience has different levels: first base, second base, third base, etc.. Love has levels, too, but unlike sex, you can't "go all the way" with love. Love betters with time. The longer you love, the deeper you'll love-- totally opposite from forever-changing lust. Love will be there twenty years from now. Lust won't.

Love is tough and secure. With love, little things don't upset you. Unike crushing when you stress every time your guy or girl leaves the room, with love you know he or she is coming back to you.

Hugging your loved one you feel warm and comforted-- not "I want to get you into bed." Sure, in love you have sexual desire, but friendship is more important.

Crushes are wild. You do stupid, embarassing things around your crush. Love is experienced. In love your heart is calm and comfortable.

Having a crush is wanting to be with someone all the time. Love is wanting to be with a someone as much as possible. The difference is subtle: with a crush, you want the person even though he or she has flaws; in love, you accept his or her flaws as a necessary part of who he/she is-- you wouldn't have him or her any other way. Of course, that doesn't mean you won't get mad at him or her or dislike certain things about him/her or even have a screaming fit on occasion. It just means whatever happens, you'll love him/her all the same.

Love is the most glorious of emotions, but keep things in perspective. Not everything you feel while in love is love. There's a lot of pressure to have sex. Stand up to that! Feeling you want a "slow," thoughtful romance is natural-- and good! Too often society trivializes commitment. Don't let this happen; you know what's important. Show the world enjoying love doesn't mean having sex.

Relationships are a big commitment in both time and effort, requiring responsibility and maturity. Of course, in many ways, this is great: you can spend time with someone you have grown to care for and who cares for you while learning about other people and growing socially.

Yet consider commitment carefully. Don't commit yourself because you're desperate to have someone in your life. Don't "fall in love" with someone who treats you badly because only he or she seems to pay attention. You don't need a boyfriend or girlfriend. If you can't handle living lonely, a relationship will make things worse, not better. You need to be able to live by yourself before you can live with others. You can't truly fall in love with someone else if you don't love yourself first.

We're eager to "fall in love" quickly, but what if you haven't found someone yet? Patience. Few people find real love during their teenage years. Love takes time.

But love is worth it! Imagine: someone who cares for you and knows everything about you and is willing to do whatever it takes to make you happy... Isn't that worth waiting for?

Don't pressure yourself to fall in love. You can't lie to your heart. You can't force yourself to fall in love any more than you can choose to like someone. Let nature run its course. Love will come in time.

Too often teens get jealous and make hasty (bad) decisions about romance. Because teenage life is the only life they've known, they falsely assume it's the only life they can know. Most things that seem a big deal now-- prom, cliques-- won't be issues later. Yes, you'll still worry about them, but put things in perspective: in the long run, little details don't matter.

A lot of times people look for love but settle for something else (sex). Love is hard to find if you're looking for it. With patience, though, it will find you! Waiting isn't easy, but it's better than settling for something else and being horribly disappointed. Teens who rush sex wonder "What's the big deal?" Teens who wait for love know what the big deal is. You will fall in love one day. Your choice is whether to wait or not.