{"id":982,"date":"2012-05-20T06:23:15","date_gmt":"2012-05-20T06:23:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/?p=982"},"modified":"2012-05-20T06:23:15","modified_gmt":"2012-05-20T06:23:15","slug":"qa-he-loves-me-but-im-not-sure-if-i-love-him-back-will-it-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/qa-he-loves-me-but-im-not-sure-if-i-love-him-back-will-it-work.html","title":{"rendered":"Q&amp;A: \u201cHe loves me, but I\u2019m not sure if I love him back; will it work?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_983\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-983\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.29secrets.com\/sites\/all\/files\/Date_Friends_Ex_300x400_0.jpg?1264445299\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-983\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/304\/2012\/05\/Date_Friends_Ex_300x400_0-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-983\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">She loves me not<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Question <a href=\"http:\/\/formspring.me\/bdavewalters\">submitted via Formspring<\/a>:<br \/>\n\u201cI&#8217;m planning to start a relationship with a person who used to be my college classmate. He loves me, but I am not sure about my feelings. But, I really need to start dating someone. Do you think it will work?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, do I think it will work? The short answer is, no.<br \/>\nFor the longer answer, let\u2019s break this down into pieces:<br \/>\nYou are planning to start a relationship; why \u201cplanning\u201d a relationship? \u00a0What is there to plan?<br \/>\nEither you are involved, or you aren\u2019t; if you feel like there are things in your life that would be an obstacle to the relationship, or the relationship <em>is<\/em> the obstacle, then that\u2019s not good.<\/p>\n<p>The guy in question is a former college classmate, who loves you; how can he love you if you haven\u2019t had a relationship yet?\u00a0 Notice, you described him as a \u2018former classmate\u2019, not a friend.\u00a0 Yet, you must have had enough interactions with him for him to have developed feelings, and let you know that he wants a relationship.<\/p>\n<p>You aren\u2019t sure about your feelings, but you \u2018really need\u2019 to start dating someone\u2026why? It\u2019s a very odd thing to say you really need to date someone.\u00a0 More importantly, if you know this guy has real feelings for you, but you just want to date \u2018someone\u2019, then it\u2019s really not fair to him, and will inevitably lead to him getting hurt.<\/p>\n<p>So, rather than get involved with him, or anyone, just because you can, take some time to figure exactly what it is that you want.\u00a0\u00a0 More importantly, make sure you have a firm foundation of <a title=\"Emotions, Or, you\u2019re great, and I love you!\" href=\"http:\/\/features.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/2012\/01\/emotions-or-youre-great-and-i-love-you.html\" target=\"_blank\">loving yourself first<\/a>; since you can\u2019t love anyone, or let anyone love you any more than you love yourself.\u00a0 Once you are clear on that, then <a title=\"How to BE Mr\/s Right, Or, spiritual loving II (VIDEO)\" href=\"http:\/\/features.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/2011\/10\/how-to-be-mrs-right-or-spiritual-loving-ii-video.html\" target=\"_blank\">the right guy won\u2019t be too hard to find<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>You are great, and I love you!<br \/>\nAnd if you love me back, click &#8216;share&#8217; up at the top!<\/p>\n<p>B. Dave Walters<br \/>\nWriter, Life Coach, and Talk Radio Host<\/p>\n<p>Find out more about me:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/about.me\/BDaveWalters\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/about.me\/BDaveWalter<\/a>s<\/p>\n<p>Ask me anything:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/formspring.me\/BDaveWalters\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/formspring.me\/BDaveWalters<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pages I support:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jesusnbuddha\" target=\"_blank\">Jesus and Buddha<\/a>\u00a0&#8212; Interfaith dialog<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Gnostic-Theism\/213600055362473\" target=\"_blank\">Gnostic Theism<\/a>\u00a0&#8212; Religion and Spirituality for the 21st Century (Join the Movement!)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/groups\/177682155586539\/\" target=\"_blank\">Love One Another<\/a>\u00a0&#8212; A group for the coolest Spiritual people on the Internet!<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/BDaveWalters\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/image3.examiner.com\/images\/blog\/EXID4908\/images\/Button_Twitter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"50\" height=\"48\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/BDaveWalters\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/image3.examiner.com\/images\/blog\/EXID4908\/images\/Button_Facebook.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"50\" height=\"48\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/bdavewalters\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/image3.examiner.com\/images\/blog\/EXID4908\/images\/Button_YouTube.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"49\" height=\"48\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.myspace.com\/bdavewalters\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/image3.examiner.com\/images\/blog\/EXID4908\/images\/Button_MySpace.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"50\" height=\"48\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/formspring.me\/bdavewalters\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/image3.examiner.com\/images\/blog\/EXID4908\/images\/email_button.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"47\" height=\"48\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question submitted via Formspring: \u201cI&#8217;m planning to start a relationship with a person who used to be my college classmate. He loves me, but I am not sure about my feelings. But, I really need to start dating someone. Do you think it will work?\u201d So, do I think it will work? The short answer&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":450,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Q&amp;A: \u201cHe loves me, but I\u2019m not sure if I love him back; will it work?\u201d - A Reason to Smile<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/qa-he-loves-me-but-im-not-sure-if-i-love-him-back-will-it-work.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Q&amp;A: \u201cHe loves me, but I\u2019m not sure if I love him back; will it work?\u201d - A Reason to Smile\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Question submitted via Formspring: \u201cI&#8217;m planning to start a relationship with a person who used to be my college classmate. 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Do you think it will work?\u201d So, do I think it will work? The short answer&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/areasontosmile\/2012\/05\/qa-he-loves-me-but-im-not-sure-if-i-love-him-back-will-it-work.html","og_site_name":"A Reason to Smile","article_published_time":"2012-05-20T06:23:15+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/areasontosmile\/files\/2012\/05\/Date_Friends_Ex_300x400_0-225x300.jpg"}],"author":"B. 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