To love, or not to love – that is the question: whether tis easier to keep it imprisoned in one’s mind or to let it loose to roam free over bemused friends and family…

This week, as a bit of a social experiment, I tried the latter through text, Facebook and face to face… I chose 7 victims for my experiment (cue evil laughter) and the majority surprised me with their candid and rather lovely and unexpected replies. I say unexpected as I did not really know what would happen when I messaged why I loved these people (they’d either think I was bonkers, being over-sentimental or even confused) – but each one responded back in equal measure so the messages maybe unleashed something golden in the receiver and provoked conversations about values that normally wouldn’t happen.

Most of the bemusement stemmed from the text messages – which were out of the blue and in which I simple declared ‘I love you, ______’ – my brother said it back, my older sister sent me a series of ?????!!! which made me giggle and my husband asked me if I was involved in some social experiment ;). However, the longer messages, in which I backed up why I loved the person, were the ones that led to some pretty amazing conversations and as well as lifting their days, those people lifted mine. I did not set out for this to happen so it was an extra bonus and proved the theory that if you give out more love, it comes back to you and adds to your happiness levels.

The face-to-face encounters were different again – maybe it was because they were family members but it was more one-sided. They listened, smiled and were curious to hear what their positive qualities were but there was less come back – maybe people feel safer saying it through the safety of a key board and without the awkward eye contact? Although, those messages were more public, whereas the one-to-ones were exactly that. So who really knows – but one thing’s for sure, it put a smile on all of their faces so that’s a reward in itself.

It became addictive after that – I’ve been spreading ‘I love yous’ across my world – even said it to my dad on the phone the other day and that is something my family just don’t do. What happened? I got one back in return and I could tell he was smiling.

So whether you think it’s too sentimental or that people might think you’ve gone mad – don’t knock it until you try. Surely it’s better to give it a go, rather than just think it and never unleash the love… get it out there and then just maybe you might make some room for some more and let’s face it; there’s never enough love.