How soon is too soon/How long is to long to say ...I LOVE YoU?

Take for instance your friend, or co worker that met a person literally New Years Eve, continued to talk to this person and started using the three letter phrase in place of their daily vernacular by early summer. You are happy for them, but in the back of your mind do you ever ask the question...Does this person know what love is? In contrast, take for instance the couple that has been together for five years, live together with no kids, but the guy is afraid to say I Love You. Which brings me to my question... How soon is too soon/How long is to long to say ...I LOVE YoU?

Keep in mind that there are three types of love: the adolescent love that consumes your thoughts and actions, the sexual passionate love that is primarily focused around sex, and the after all the glitz and glamour have departed what stands after that love. My guess is if you are at the adolescent stage of love, it might be too soon to tell another person you love them, but if you have been with a person for five years for the most part all of the glitz and glamour has been seen already, and you are past the previous two stages of love, so what would prohibit this person from saying I love You. I know what you are asking yourself...What if the other person initiates the phrase before you, what do you say, how do you respond? The only thing you can do is to remain cool, calm and collected and express your feelings to the best of your abilities.

Food for Thought...You can pressure a person into saying I Love You and risk the chance of that person saying it and not really meaning it, scaring the other person off because they are not quite ready for love and all the strings associated with it, or waiting for the other person to say I Love You (which may take longer than anticipated). I normally use the one year rule. If you have been with a person for a year, or longer and they have seen your daily actions, episodes, routines and occurrences, and in knowing that they accept you for you, then, the three letter words might possibly be OK to say, (or whisper) but not before then.