The world today can be cold and hard, most likely due to people being afraid to give away their love. There is a tendency in today’s day and age to be aloof and uninterested because it seems cool and prevents rejection or wrong impressions.

We should not fear expressing one of the most genuine emotions. The best way to understand how to love is knowing the different ways you can love someone.

Sometimes the love you share with someone happens automatically, such as loving your mother, father, siblings or other family members.

Other times love will not be a given, but it comes almost instantly. Think about your best friend and the first time you met. The two of you probably clicked from the start and the love you share has continued to blossom ever since.

In a lot of relationships, you grow to love the other person. You know them initially and over time as you explore them on a deeper level, the love between you flourishes.

Some relationships happen when two people dislike each other originally, and by some way of life their souls gravitate together and become linked.

When you truly love someone, no matter when or how you choose to love them, the love you emit is unconditional. You would do anything at the drop of a hat for them, and your love will never run out for them, even if they are no longer in your life.

When someone you care about passes away, your love does not stop because you cannot see them. You love them through the physical and mental memories you keep of them; like the smell of their perfume, an old sweatshirt they gave you or remembering their laugh and the way their eyes closed when it was a good joke.

When your best friend moves across the country you do not stop loving them because they are no longer with you. You love them through photographs, phone calls and distance.

True love does not stop, it does not end and it never fades no matter how much time passes. If you stop speaking to a friend, in your head you want to hate them for what they did to you, but in your heart you simply cannot.

When your boyfriend or girlfriend of years breaks up with you, initially you curse their name, but in the end you still have love in your heart for them and wish them the best.

Then there is the ever-fleeting “in love.”

Most have heard the phrase “falling in and out of love.” You can fall out of love just as fast as you fell into it, and it is reserved specifically for lovers or significant others.

Falling in love is like jumping in puddles: always exciting and easy to do, but it is so simple to step out of and walk away at any time without a second thought.

Being in love is analyzing their details because their every look fascinates you, getting light headed while inhaling their perfume or cologne because you cannot get enough of it, when their presence and touch infatuates you and when they simply graze their hand with yours and the hair on the back of your neck stands.

Falling in love hits you hard. You never see it coming and you will never be quite the same. You can fall in love with so many different souls for so many different reasons, and every one is special. But many times the infatuation will end and the connection will be nothing but a forgotten memory. That does not invalidate the love you shared with that person, it just means that it was not necessarily unconditional.

If you are truly lucky in this lifetime, you will find a person who falls under both categories for love. You will fall in love with them and genuinely love their soul forevermore. Your two souls will link together to bond and become one.

Author Justin Blaney has a quote that perfectly describes loving and being in love with one person. “When I am strong you are my favorite weakness, and when I am weak you are my greatest strength.”

If you are lucky enough to find this person, hold onto them tight because they are your soulmate.

Everyone needs love. Everyone specifically needs both kinds of love. To fall in love and to love someone on a more intimate scale.

We should strive for more love. Logan Hill, contributor for Cosmopolitan magazine, wrote in a January 2017 advice column, “The beautiful thing about love, is that it isn’t zero sum: The more love you give to one person doesn’t mean there is nothing left over for other people. If anything, it’s exponential: The more love you give the more love you can give.”

So many young people fear giving away love due to hurt or rejection, but that is not how it should be. Every gracing of love is a blessing and a lesson no matter what happens and we should appreciate that. Appreciate the love we receive when we receive it: that is how we stay afloat in this world.

And in order to receive, we must be willing to give with every ounce of our being.