How do you come to realise you are in a relationship, or feeling something for someone that is closer to infatuation than love, and what do you do about it?

I find it to be an issue I deal with every now and then. Rarely do I encounter a person who hits the right notes in terms of how they treat me, speak to me and make me feel. I’m typically extremely careful, and don’t let people get close. However, like with what I’m dealing with right now, a person can literally be a “drug” to me. I would be there for them and wait around because they make me feel so good. I tend to be a bit of a novelty-seeker, so I can certainly compare it to other “highs”.

Much like anticipation before having a drink, cigarette or spinning the reels of a slot machine, it becomes a sort of restlessness and irritability when not seeing/speaking to the person, and finally getting to do so brings a relief similar to the high a substance or behaviour may bring. In essence, it is *like* an addiction. I can see how it is a problem, but the centre of it all is the good feeling you get from being with a person, and how difficult it becomes to distance yourself.

What does one do? I know I can ride it out and it’ll eventually settle into something less intense, even if it becomes such that we stop speaking as often, but I know that for right now.. this is becoming problematic.