What does it feel like to fall in love?

Falling in love feels like a tornado - a tornado of every single emotion hitting you from all directions unexpectedly, while threatening to suffocate you if you let it go. 

I fell in love in college, but it was never part of my plan. I wanted to be independent and on my own in a big city one day. Then, I met my now husband. I didn't understand how I actually found someone who was genuine and simultaneously kind and compassionate. I loved him so much that it hurt. If anything were to happen to us or to him, I didn't know how I would survive. Every conversation about the future felt monumental, like any disagreement could break us, yet our bond was so strong that it scared me. I had a lot of resistance to love. I didn't want it for my life, yet how could I not when it was with him? Every plan I had for myself was shifting in the most beautiful way possible. 

The tornado that struck me was filled with many storms of fights, tears, and passion. I was finally able to be unapologetically authentic with someone, my tough exterior making way for vulnerability, and neither my mind nor my heart knew how to make sense of how I was fully accepted as the real me.