Ah, the beautiful love stories. The reason humanity hasn’t gone extinct yet!
From the mundane to the most iconic ones, they all start with a simple act of courage to say “Hi” and then share more and more.
When wanting to tell your crush you like them, it’s all about starting. Taking that first step you’ve dreaded for a long time.
Communicating your emotions, while managing to have reasonable expectations is the crux of it all.
Keep the balance and the conversation will flow.
As the user 8542Madness honestly advises on r/AskReddit, aim to be direct but not too bossy. Be honest about your feelings but don’t rant in panic. Wording your feelings to your crush might not be easy, but we’ve put together this article to guide you along the way.
How to Tell Your Crush You Like Them:
Not everything goes as planned. Normally, we would want things to end the minute they don’t. But when they do, it’s time for the next step.
You could’ve created already some kind of relationship with your crush or maybe you haven’t had your first chat yet.
Use these steps as your guide.
Step 1: Build The Connection Before You Tell Your Crush You Like Them
1. Interact With Them To Establish A Connection
If you haven’t ever spoken with your crush or have only a few casual conversations, you should try to talk more often with your crush.
Not only will this help you understand them and whether you’d enjoy their presence for long, but it’ll also make it easier for you to express how you feel when the moment comes.
Unless you’ve established some kind of connection with them, then it would be too early and unnatural to try to express your feelings to them.
Most of the time things are complicated. You’ll understand that there’s a connection between the two when you:
- Start sharing little secrets and scenarios most friends don’t know about you.
- You’ve started doing activities together and always wait for each other to get started.
These are just two simple examples but the chances are that you will be able to understand how connected they are to you right away.
It’ll be clear in their eyes. They’ll keep intimate eye contact, touch you often, support your decisions, and want to be often all the time with you.
2. Stay Confident When You’re With Them
Confidence plays a major role in your relationships with others.
When you display confidence, you don’t only appear strong and capable to your crush, but you make them feel like they can trust you.
And trust is a big thing in relationships. So you want to make her understand that you’re trustworthy.
Keep in mind to break negative beliefs and stand up for yourself when a dangerous scenario reveals itself in front of you.
Surely, there will be times when self-doubt tries to cripple you.
But, remember: negative beliefs are only in our minds and they can be changed through action.
Don’t overthink negative scenarios. Be confident in your values, and this might turn from a casual relationship to something serious.
3. Observe Their Receptiveness To Your Actions
Before confessing your feelings and risk having your heart broken, become a little more observant and try to understand if your crush likes you or not.
You can do this without asking. Surprisingly enough, our body language speaks about the way we feel all the time.
All you have to do is observe it.
Here are some things to look for:
- Body language and verbal cues. When you enter the room, do they move in excitement or not? Do they express this verbally by speaking about it or becoming more talkative?
- Signs of interest or attraction. Have they complimented you in any way before? When talking about ideal partners, have they mentioned features you possess?
- Reactions to your presence and conversations. Are they focused when you talk? Do they keep eye contact or are bored?
For instance, if your crush likes you, they’d be blushing and feeling excited when you’re around.
They’d support your suggestions and maybe side with you in a group debate. If they don’t have any feelings for you, they might do the opposite.
4. Build A Connection With Them
Building a connection with your crush is a thrilling journey, but it takes time and patience. Great things in life are worth the effort, after all.
So, how can you foster a closer bond? Let’s dive in:
1. Engage in regular, casual conversations: Consistent interaction is vital for building a connection. Take the initiative to engage them in casual conversations, getting to know them better and creating a stronger bond.
2. Show genuine interest: Demonstrate a sincere interest in their life and the opinions they express. Pay attention to their stories, dreams, and aspirations. This attentiveness communicates that you value them as an individual.
3. Surprise them with thoughtful gestures: Small acts of kindness can go a long way. Surprise your crush with a cute note tucked in their bag, or bring them their favorite snack unexpectedly. These gestures show that you care and are attentive to their preferences.
To truly build a genuine connection, vulnerability is key. Be open and willing to share your thoughts and emotions.
One effective way to achieve this is by exchanging secrets. When you both trust each other with personal confidence, it deepens the bond between you, fostering a sense of intimacy and trust.
Remember, building a connection takes time and a willingness to be vulnerable. Enjoy the journey of getting to know your crush on a deeper level, and embrace the excitement of building a meaningful connection.
Step 2: Get Ready to Tell Your Crush Your Like Them
5. Look For Ways To Engage With Them On A Common Ground
Think about finding opportunities where you can engage with each other and do your common activities together.
What’s their passion? What do they like to do in their free time?
What about you?
Find the golden middle, an activity that combines both of your interests, and invite them to join you. In the same line, you can also:
- Organize group events and invite them so you can spend more time together without making them feel awkward.
- Start exploring their interests and invite them to accompany you.
- Attend workshops or seminars together on a subject you’re both interested in.
There is a lot you can do together.
You might think some of the activities involve more “work” and might not leave space for intimate conversations, but it’s actually the opposite.
When you go to these activities like workshops or other events you’ll get closer to each other because you won’t know many other people around.
So you’ll have to stick to each other. This makes you rely on one another, and develop a stronger bond.
6. Drop Some Hints Before You Tell Your Crush You Like Them
There’s no fixed moment to express your feelings.
There’s no exact time period of how long should the talking stage last before things become serious and you decide where this relationship goes.
Often, their feelings towards you might not be obvious, which makes it considerably difficult to take the next step.
They might be in doubt about their feelings as well. So you need to drop hints from time to time to test the waters instead of directly telling someone you like them.
Depending on your personality, you’ll find an appropriate way of doing this.
For example, if you’re the funny person who turns everything into a joke, hint at them with a joke about what would it be like if you were together.
If you don’t consider yourself good with jokes, then use another approach.
For instance, talk about being with another person and see how they react. That’s another effective way to check if they have feelings for you.
Next, you can tease them by suggesting couples activities like traveling to a new city together, going shopping, eating together in a nice restaurant, etc.
Teasing them with light banters and romantic scenarios will bring forth their feelings toward you either consciously or unconsciously.
And, it will provide confidence boost to your self esteem before you confess your feelings.
7. Find The Right Place To Tell Your Crush You Like Them
Having a private space where you can chat with your crush without being disturbed is essential for you to cultivate a close relationship.
Life often gets busy and you might not have the time to spend much quality time talking with each other.
But if you find a space where you can talk with your crush without being disturbed, it’ll help you cultivate a good relationship.
The ideal private space for you should be:
- Quiet and with minimal distractions
- Cozy and comfortable for you to stay for hours
- A place away from the prying eyes of the people of both know.
This place could be a small coffee shop, a library, a rooftop bar, or a park.
Explore the area for yourself and find a comfortable place. This is going to be your unofficial dating spot if the relationship progresses that way.
8. Confessing To Your Crush You Like Them
Obviously, when you’re together in the private space of yours, it’s time to confess your feelings to your crush.
This is the big moment you’ve been waiting for.
Although it will normally be a little bit challenging to express yourself, start with small things and let their attention inspire you to share more.
Also, keep in mind these simple yet important tips:
- Be honest and direct about your feelings, and avoid assuming how they might feel.
- Talk in the first person using “I” statements to express your emotions.
- Avoid rushing them to give you an instant response to your feelings.
- Tell your crush you like them face to face instead of texting.
It’s important to get out of your head and leave the negative thoughts aside. (You can do a practice of little pep talk to prepare to tell you crush you like them)
Don’t try to assume how they will react or overthink scenarios of what might happen afterward.
Just shoot your shot and see where it takes you.
9. Accept Your Crush’s Feelings For You
Acceptance is hard. We barely accept ourselves, let alone others.
But you need to be open-minded and understand that others have their own preferences and tastes when it comes to the ideal partner.
No matter how good of a person you’ve been to them, respect their decision.
You might think “Oh, but I’ve done so much for them to like me.”
You can’t choose who likes you and who doesn’t, no matter what you do.
So, keep this advice in mind and put up with their feelings for you:
- Get mentally prepared for all kinds of reactions and responses
- Think of what you would want to do next if they don’t feel the same way or if they want to stay just friends.
- Keep a positive attitude no matter how the situation goes, and don’t flinch at the outcome.
Whether this turns into a beautiful love story, remains a friendship, or you go cold on each other, you want to act decently and respect their decisions. Be ready to prepare for the outcome where they might not feel the same way about you.
Step 3: The Next Step
10. Navigate Friendship Or Romantic Relationship
We stick to the fact that any potential outcome is probable.
You can’t decide how things will go, but you can decide how to react afterward.
After they’ve expressed how they feel about you:
- Talk about the future of your relationship.
- See if they’re indeed willing to be in a friendship or romantic relationship with you from now on.
- Determine the boundaries each of you should respect if you decide to remain friends.
Relationships are complicated because we as humans are complicated. Nothing is guaranteed and things can take a turn at any moment.
What you should keep in mind is to be respectful and understanding.
And leave them the time to process this. Even if their answer is a no, make sure these are their true feelings. Because you never know the truth.
They might have low confidence or don’t think themselves worthy of this relationship and deny that they feel the same as you.
Observe their reaction and try to understand their true feelings. Don’t rush.
Summary:
Talking to your crush sounds like something very simple but the truth is that not everyone has the needed courage to take that step.
And we should normalize this. Shyness is real. Being an introvert is real.
But, the right person will eventually leave room for you to approach them and build what starts as a friendship and then turns into something more.
However, you have to throw the first step by interacting and spending more time together. When the time is right, open up about your feelings and tell your crush you like them.
Whether they feel the same as you, time will tell.
Try your best and even if things don’t pan out, respect their decision, and continue your way. And, remember, it’s not end of the world if they don’t share the same feelings.
