How do you tell someone how much they mean to you?

Answer 1

That depends on the person you would be telling and how they feel about you. I am answering this question assuming the relationship is friendship and that you are not trying to turn it into something more.

I wrote a letter to a friend, explaining how much that person meant to me, but the friendship broke up shortly after that. Apparently, the feelings were not reciprocal - a casual friendship versus a good friendship. With two other friends, I expressed it in emails, and that worked well. I know one person who gained a new friend and told her in person how much she meant.

If you think the other person means a lot more to you than you do to him or her, be cautious. If you both have strong feelings of friendship about each other, but think that telling the person in person would embarrass him or her, do it in writing. If you want an immediate reaction, do it in person, but you should probably plan what you want to say beforehand and be prepared with a short version in case the person becomes uncomfortably embarrassed.

Be more specific than "You mean a lot to me." Why does the person mean a lot to you? Has the person always been there for you? Was the person there for you during a pivotal event in your life? Did the person do something that changed your life? How does the person make you feel?