Does love have an expiration date ?

Last Update : October 9, 2017

The theories on true love duration vary according to experts. From 3 to 4 years to 12 months, the odds of your love lasting a lifetime have been challenged by many experts.

However, we wanted to revise the question, does love really have an expiration date?

Love vs. affectionate emotion

What is love? One of the eternal question… how would you explain love to somebody that would have never heard of?

According to some experts, such as Elaine Hatfield, a psychology professor specialised in love at the University of Hawaii, love is like a drug which provides a « high » sensation. But this sensation, like with drugs, can’t last forever.

Love seems to have an evolution: from passionate love to compassionate love.

At the end, it is still love, but an evolved way of loving. Which brings us to the same question again: what is love? Do we understand love as a very intense emotion, a passionate constant way of living life? Or is love an exploration of affection and dedication to another person?

Hatfield findings seem to conclude that passionate love decreases over the years transforming into a sort of compassionate love. However, according to the professor, compassionate love seems to fade away with time. Are then relationship doomed to lose love for companionship?

Sharing the same « love story »

On the other side, we find the supporters of a lasting love as long as it flourishes by the same « love story ».

What does that mean then? Is love a story at the end? A vision on how we see things?

According to another psychologist, Robert J. Sternberg, the problem of the decrease of love in long-term relationships is when there is not a match, « if the stories don’t match »…

No wonder why the best matchmaking dating sites such as Match.com or Zoosk have become so popular and successful in creating lasting love stories.

Love seems to be quite a complicated thing that needs of several elements to work together in order to succeed. A kind of potion of love which its own base may vary depending on people, but seems to have an order and different stages…

What are the elements needed for a lasting love then? Some might say that personal space, self-esteem, and dedication could be the answers, however, we believe that love is a mood at the end: it needs to be nurtured on a daily basis.