Do you hold your love in or do you tell everyone how you really feel about them?

Depends on who the person is. With my husband I tell him I love him and I do with the kids. But I don’t tell my brother I love him. I just laught and call him an idiot and he does the same with me. We both know that is our way of saying we love you, you idiot. :P

I definitely tell people that I love them – I don’t take any of my upcoming days for granted, life can end tomorrow. Although when I feel love for someone or when I feel that my love is great (like in my marriage) I don’t really discuss that with others (other than on Fluther).

I don’t say it right away. I wait to see how the other person feels about me. If things are looking mutual, then I might start to reveal more of my feelings.

Although, online it’s different. I can take more risks here, because if it doesn’t work out, there’s not much downside. Except if you do fall in love and it gets serious. That’s not a good thing. Best not to show your feelings in that case.

I’m not gushy about it, but I like to make a point of telling my kids & friends “I love you” occassionally.

Life has taught me I just never know when it’s going to be the last opportunity I’ll have.

With my best friends and family, yes. It took me awhile to be able to show it. With guys, different story. I think everyone has that kind of shyness, though.

I used to have washboard abs, and hold my love in.

Now I hold my stomache in, and tell everyone I love them.

It’ll just pop out, come what may. It’s rare that anyone’s been weirded out or responds negatively to my saying that I love them. I had one bf to whom I said the magic words after 8 or so months, and it was as though I’d said, “I just brought in the mail.” No affect at all. We were done a few months later.

Depends. I only have a few close friends who I sometimes tell I love them. I guess I don’t say it much to them now that I think about it. I say it to my mom, dad, and brothers often (but….I don’t talk to them that often…so it’s not constant). I tell my boyfriend all the time. And my dog back at home. She got it the most.

Life gives us no guarantees. Enjoy every day you have, and if you truly love someone ( not just have a panting passion for them! ), by all means tell them you care for them. Coming right out of the blue with “I love you” might only succeed in driving them away. Some people are startled, even scared of someone they don’t know, or don’t know very well, telling them that they love them. Caring for someone can function as an intermediary stage on the way to that ultimate revelation. : )

I am a gusher. If I love someone they know it. If I like something or even simply notice something about someone I share it.

I’m not particularly forthcoming with my feelings, but every time I tell someone I love someone, it’s sincere. Not that saying these things all the time lessens their truthfulness, but I like to be sure before I say it. Other ways I let people know that they are in my heart include inviting them over to my house and giving them cake.

I love you guys.

I tell my boyfriend I love him, I told him very early on in our relationship. I don’t say it to family as I feel awkward.

I express love verbally and non-verbally as freely as possible as you never know when it will be the last chance to do so. ;)

I tell them, though not as often as I should. Mostly it’s just felt by the other person when we’re together. At this point there’s no real need to say it, we can just sense it in the way they act, but it’s always somehow comforting to hear.

The people I love know it :)

An incident happened in our family 3 years ago that taught me if you love someone, TELL THEM. Tomorrow may be too late. With family, it’s natural to tell them I love them, of course. But with friends, if things click & you feel that special closeness to them, I tell them, too. I’m not ashamed to express my feelings.

I am very straight-forward and direct. I feel this approach makes relationships more simple. I express positive feelings freely and negative feelings thoughtfully. If the people I share my life with know what they are dealing with, when it comes to me, they will find it much easier to enjoy our relationship.

I usually hold it in. I’m a very reserved person (some would say repressed but they can go fuck themselves). I don’t open up to people quickly at all and even when I’m very close to someone it can be difficult for me to express my feelings to them.

@clioi you’ve described exactly how I feel. I think it stems back to being a kid and having a mom who was very stoic. I grew up thinking it was kind of weak to be emotional. Although she never explicitly said any of this, I learned from her behaviour that if you’re stressed or sad you should hide it and if you love someone you shouldn’t go around and gush about it.

I feel that I do not show people how much I really care about them enough. I have very strong feelings that I keep inside myself. I often think about how I should communicate my feelings to those that I love more, and this bothers me about myself. But, there is always something within me that keeps me from being more open with my feelings. I sometimes think it is because of the lack of affection from my family. But, I cannot really be certain of this. It could just be how I evolved emotionally over the span of my life.