We all love the beginning of a new relationship when you’re floating on cloud 9 and you’re both still on your best behaviour. You’re both putting your best foot forward and you’re embracing that new love bubble. Aaaaahh!
Unfortunately, it’s true that there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. When a partner love bombs you, it can be manipulative and even abusive in some cases.
So let’s understand what love bombing is and how to look out for the red flags.
Also read: Relationship reboot: how to bring back lost love in a relationship
What exactly is love bombing?
Love bombing is a type of psychological and emotional abuse.
It is subtle and unlike physical abuse, it usually begins at the very beginning of a new relationship.
In some cases, a person is love bombed into a relationship. This means that the person pursuing you with love-bombing tactics uses manipulation to get you to be with them.
6 Signs of love-bombing
1. Heightened interest in you
At the beginning of a relationship, love bombers usually want to know everything about you from the get-go. This is so that they can use it against you later down the line.
2. They share intimate details about themselves
Love bombers are smart. As much as they want to know about you, they are willing to share about themselves. Within the first few dates, they would have shared intimate details about their trauma or childhood, in order to create a false sense of intimacy and to get you to trust them.
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3. Grand declarations of love
Love-bombers might be excessive in their approach to let you and the world know (perhaps through social media posts or expensive gifts) that you are together and declare their love for you with an intense sense of grandeur. The purpose of this is to make you feel indebted to them, giving them power and more control over you.
4. Relentlessly requiring your attention
Love-bombers are often clingy and want to spend every waking moment with you. Likewise, they will be incredibly jealous of you spending time with people other than them and later down the line, this might lead to isolating you from your friends, family and even your work obligations.
5. Ignoring your boundaries
Love-bombing is often a side effect of narcissism, which means that they don’t sincerely care about you. Their objective is to get what they want. So if you ever express your boundaries, they will blatantly ignore them and push back on your limits.
6. Intense anger when criticized
Love bombers who are criticized will often lash out in anger. This comes from an inflated sense of self, especially if the love bombing stems from narcissism.
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Featured image: Unsplash
