Before I continue with the task of answering the unanswerable question of “What is Love?”  (which as if turns out isn’t so hard to answer), I think we have to go back a bit.

Recently in our Humanities class we have started studying Romeo and Juliette. 

An activity we ended up doing to learn about Romeo and Juliette was a sheet with some very interesting question on which we had to either agree or disagree. You may see the sheet below. 

There are many questions on this sheet which are worth further explanation. However, I have chosen the first one: 

“Can 16 year-olds fall in Love?”

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To answer this question I had to do a little bit of research. Now, I think we can safely say that we are referring to romantic love here and not familial love, or the love you feel for your friends. While doing my research I have come upon what I will refer to as the two different “loves”. The two different “loves” are: 

1. The Poetic Feeling of Love

The feeling of love is what I would refer to as the more poetic side of Love. It’s the emotion that has inspired so many poets and writers and artists. The feeling of love is real, and anyone can feel it (in theory). But it is easily confused with a whole bunch of other stuff. And the second “love” is why this happens.

2. The Science of Love

Scientists have agreed (for the most part) that there are three stages to love. To help you understand this and ultimately to prove that anyone can fall in love I have created this infographic



You may have noticed that I used the word Lust instead of Love, this is because they are different. To learn why watch this video: 

So. Technically, anyone can fall in love. Love is a biological reaction powered by chemicals such as dopamine and norepinephrine that affect our brains. The problem is recognizing the difference between lust and love. The two are very different emotions. However, it is possibly that Romeo and Juliette were the poster children for this difference. 

They had not known each other long and hence were probably not really in love, it’s possible that they were just “in lust”. Lust is the first “stage” of Love but it is not the entire thing and it is possible after a week, a month or even a year, Romeo and Juliette might not have carried on that attraction. But it is possible that they might have. Another reason the emotion of “true love” is hard to recognize in teenagers is because of the jumble of changes the brain is undergoing and the added societal pressure that one “has to fall in love”.

I ask and answer again, “Can 16 year-olds fall in Love?” The short answer? Yes, anyone can. But Love and Lust are not the same. 

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you learnt something about the science of love. See you soon!