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You’ve finally hit that time in your life when you want to find Mr. Right, get married, live together, and maybe even  have children in the future. You’re done with flings and random hook-ups and instead you’re ready to find that one guy who you can happily settle down with. We’re not psychic, but we bet finding Mr. Right has proven to be a bit harder task than you ever expected. Confused as to why? Here are a few reasons why Mr. Right seems to be eluding you.

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Science has shown us that the chemicals that produce the feeling of infatuation die off after two to three years in a relationship. After that, only true compatibility will keep a couple happy. But just happy, not ecstatic. And it feels good to be ecstatic, and you and your partner deserve to have that forever! So, how do you recreate what your chemicals are failing to create for you? By keeping the spark alive like this.

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Most men tend to hide their feelings and emotions, but when a man is in love, you’ll know right off the bat. Even if he tries to hold back his feelings, rarely is a man ever able to successfully conceal being in love with a woman. If you’ve been in a long-term relationship that has grown and strengthened over the years, it’s likely that your guy is head over heels for you. But just in case you aren’t sure, here are 15 tried and true signs.

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Every woman dreams of having a ring on her finger, right?! Long-term relationships are typically the pathway to marriage and beyond. However, not all men have marriage on their mind, at least not without some pushing and prodding. Here are 14 signs that your boyfriend isn’t planning to propose to you anytime soon.

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Don’t worry: your love isn’t disintegrating, he doesn’t find you any less attractive, and you’re not in a rut. There are just some behaviors couples can’t keep up forever. But these changes here will come and go throughout any good relationship.

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In a world full of self-help books, women touring the country giving seminars on “doing you” and umpteen thousand Facebook fag pages dedicated to motivating you to do more, more, more every day, where does a stay-at-home woman fit in? Fifty years ago it was the norm to be a “kept woman.” Now, just that term raises negative images of women spoiled out of their senses, drinking white wine all day and pretending to love their wealthy husbands. But that’s not all it is. Some women just so happen to fall in love with a man who is well off—a man who makes that woman’s minimum wage job at a café obsolete, because he can provide for the both of them. And that’s okay. But, if you’re such a woman, you may get some grief from society, not to mention your closest friends! Here are the judgments and misunderstandings to be prepared for.

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Let’s face it: everybody wants to fall head over heels for somebody. Even the self-proclaimed lifetime players would give up that lifestyle for someone who swept them off their feet because you can’t choose when you fall in love. And just like you can’t decide not to feel in love if you are, you can’t decide to feel in love, if you’re not. But, since the concept seems so good on paper, sometimes we (yes, mostly women) will tell ourselves, “This is love” when really he’s just not the one. Here are signs you’re not that serious about him, hard as you may try to be.

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Like anything in life—your career, your friendships, your love life—it isn’t one giant push, or one grand gesture, or one successful day that makes you truly successful at it. It’s the small habits that you consciously practice daily. Here are some habits that almost every happy couple attributes their success to.

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I’m about to rock the worlds of the commitment-phobes out there, of the people that spurt out statistics about divorce any time you ask them why they’re single, of the people that use their unhealthy couple friends as evidence why they shouldn’t date. They hold onto these myths about long-term relationships for dear life, because these myths are the only thing letting them pretend that they’re not just deeply afraid of finding love, and pursuing it. Sorry to blow the cover off your plan, you forever-single’s.

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So you’ve found that one guy that makes you feel amazing, beautiful, loved, cared about, and special. You’ve been with him for years, so the honeymoon phase is long gone and you’ve noticed that things are getting a bit stale. The longer you’re with your significant other, the more likely it is that things can get dull and boring. Here are 14 ways to ensure that your relationship remains exciting, alive, and burning.