When You Love Someone, You Keep Your Promises

When you love someone, you keep your promises. If you say you are going to show up at a certain time, then you arrive five minutes early to keep them from waiting. If you say you are going to pick them up for a date, you don’t change plans at the last second and ask them to meet you there. If you say you are going to grab dinner with them over the weekend or introduce them to your parents or phone them as soon as you get home, you follow through.

When you love someone, you mean what you say. Before making promises, you think about whether or not you’ll be able to keep them. You don’t say the easiest thing out of instinct. The thing that will make your person happy in the moment. You don’t lie to keep the peace.

When you love someone, you prove you can be trusted. You prove you are reliable. You make it clear that they can depend on you to show up whenever they need you. You show them that they can count on you to do what you swore you were going to do.

When you love someone, you don’t cancel on them at the last second unless there is an emergency. You don’t back out on plans you made last week, because you changed your mind about them during the last few days. You don’t disappoint your person time and time again, and then expect them to believe you the next time you make an empty promise.

When you love someone, you don’t screw them over. You don’t hurt them without thinking twice about it.

Your person shouldn’t hear you talk about a vacation you’re going to take together or a movie you’re going to take them to see and then wonder whether or not you mean it. Whether or not it is actually going to happen. They should trust your word. They should believe you when you speak.

When you love someone, you should make a point to tell them the truth, even when it hurts. If you aren’t sure whether you’re going to have to work on their birthday, let them know ahead of time instead of promising to spend the day with them. If you know you aren’t going to have time to see them over the weekend, give it to them straight instead of telling them maybe.

When you love someone, you shouldn’t make promises, unless you are positive you can keep them. You shouldn’t give your person false hope. You shouldn’t say the prettiest words instead of the words that are actually true.

When you love someone, you put in effort to keep the relationship strong. You do more than say you’ll be there. You actually show up when the time comes. You do more than promise. You follow through on those promises, you keep your word, you show them you are someone they can always count on. You show them they can trust you.