Crista Beck

Crista Beck is a Dating and Relationship Coach and Matchmaker. With over a decade of experience, she specializes in helping people become open to love and find a partner. Crista has been featured in numerous media sources such as ABC, NBC, Fox, and TEDx. She is also the author of the book, Break The Glass Slipper: Free Yourself from Fairy Tale Fantasies and Find True Love in Real Life. Crista holds a BS in Communication Studies with a focus on Interpersonal Communication from The University of Texas at Austin.

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Forum Comments (2)

Confusing relationship (who do I truly love?)
You can tell you really love someone when you've spent time getting to know them, and you develop a good connection with each other. Seeing how someone acts in their life and seeing how they respect you and treat you is a great foundation for long-term love. It's a good sign if you can picture your lives together and you have a mutual respect for each other.

When you're falling in love with each other, you get excited when you see them and your heart beats faster when they reach out to you. You want to spend lots of time with them, and care about what makes them happy.

Sometimes, people feel like they're falling in love, but they're more infatuated with someone. Infatuation tends to happen when people have a lot of chemistry, but then it can easily turn into a kind of obsession or attraction. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's love or made for the long-term.
I learned the average age for a first kiss is 15...
If you like someone romantically, and they like you, and you're just not feeling ready for that first kiss yet, I would recommend that you say, "I find you attractive, but I'm not ready for that yet." It's a very simple sentence, but it still indicates you're attracted to them so that they don't feel rejected. You're honoring your own boundary by saying, "I'm just not ready for that yet."

If you're not interested in them romantically, you just need to use your words. Politely decline by saying something like, "I'm sorry, but I don't want to," and then just go on with your day. And if you need to, you can say you're not interested in a romantic relationship right now or you're not interested in a romantic relationship with them ever, whichever is applicable. But if you're declining a kiss from someone, I'm assuming you've been on a date or something like that, and I definitely recommend that you be polite and gracious with the person.

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