When your partner makes your life brighter, you know. And if you question it, well…You can probably guess what that means.
One-sided relationships are, one could argue, worse than having no relationships because they drain one of emotional resources.
Being hurt a few times is no reason to give up a lifetime of happiness, all in the name of feeling “safe.” You can have both. You can be with someone who makes your heart race but also puts you at ease. Not everyone is willing to wait to find that, though.
Anything that is already fun is made so much more fun by his presence. Going on vacation with him is like vacation squared, because life already feels like a vacation with him, and now you’re literally on vacation with him. Unless of course, the opposite is true, and you feel many good times have been ruined by yet another fight with your boyfriend, or one of his moods.
Taking care of someone else who is deeply in transition will certainly let you avoid your own life, right? Maybe you know you need to get to work on that business idea or you know that you need to seek therapy for some trauma of your own. But you keep yourself busy taking care of this codependent partner, so you have an excuse not to face your own stuff.
When you talk about something that would be fun for the two of you to do next spring, she brushes it off. She doesn’t know for certain that she’ll still be with you next sprin
You can feel that you’re always being compared to some ghost. When you receive a compliment, it doesn’t feel like it just exists on its own. You aren’t just so generous—but you get the sense he’s saying you’re more generous than someone else was.
If I was unhappy about something in a past relationship, saying something about it felt like a huge deal. I’d have anxiety before bringing it up. I’d go over my speech in my head. Communication didn’t come easily—as it does in my current relationship.
Things could always be worse but, if you’re in a great relationship, you shouldn’t find yourself saying that. You should find yourself saying, “Things literally couldn’t be better.”
Your partner makes you feel guilty when you do things without him. Even if he isn’t interested in the museum/movie/lecture, he’s insulted you’d rather attend that than be home with him.
If anything you want to do with your friends, job, or any other part of your life would leave your partner hurt or neglected, that’s something you seriously consider.
If your marriage is already on the rocks, having a baby can have adverse effects on your relationship.