Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! It’s Day 9 of 9 Days of Valentine! We’ve all heard of the saying “action speaks louder than words”. But when it comes to expressing your love for your other half, words are also super important. Valentine’s Day happens to be the perfect time to tell them you love them and care about them.

9 Days of Valentine – Day 9: Tell Them You Love Them

Growing up in a reasonably conservative and typical Asian family, we rarely talked about love. I vaguely remember when I was little that my mother would tell us that she loves us. However, as we grew up, this topic rarely came up and became almost awkward (at least for me) to speak about. We tend to say things like “Did you sleep well?” or “Have you eaten yet?” in replacement of “I love you”, because those are the ‘practical’ questions to ask that ensure we are living a decent and healthy life. I think this sort of upbringing really affected how I approach saying “I love you” in my subsequent relationships.

Every couple has different timings at which they are comfortable telling each other they love each other. Apparently the average amount of time it takes for couples to say “I love you” is 5 months!! Sometimes it might not even be mutual! For Mister D and I, it took a (shocking) 2 years of spending time with each other for us to finally utter the L word. It wasn’t that we didn’t it feel it before – we just got so used to not saying it that both of us were afraid to be the first to say it. When we did finally say “I love you” to each other, it was a surprisingly emotional moment. I guess we’ve been building it up for quite a while! Nowadays, we say it as frequently as we feel necessary, without adding it to every sentence we exchange – and we’re happy about it!

How people express love is different for every couple. However, I encourage to tell your other half that you love them. If you don’t feel comfortable saying the “L” word yet, try things like “I care about you a lot” or “You are so special to me”. Sometimes, words do speak as loud as actions!

And that concludes this series of 9 Days of Valentine. What did you think of this series and which day was your favorite?