How to Identify an Unhealthy Relationship
Relationships are tough. You will have your ups and downs, but the core of it is always love. But there is a difference between normal struggles in a healthy relationship, and a constant drainage from an unstable relationship. They aren’t always easy to spot because some disfunctional couples hide it well, but with attention to detail, you can notice patterns of red flags that all point to an unhealthy relationship.
A few signs may include the following:
Constantly fighting
All couples fight. Big things, small things, it happens. But if you are fighting constantly over every single thing, that is when you should be worried. In a relationship, both parties need to learn to grow together. But if you are always butting heads, it will take a toll on how you feel about each other and ultimately make you feel uneasy. Things won’t always be perfect, they may even be far from it. But just make sure when you fight, you resolve your problem and talk about it to patch things up. Learn from one another, and don’t simply get used to fights and let them go unresolved.
Loss of trust
A solid relationship is built on trust. Without it, your relationship is unstable. You need to be able to trust your partner on a daily basis because if not, you will always be insecure in your relationship. And that is not okay. You need to trust your partner or else you will question everything they say is a lie. Without that solid foundation, your relationship is bound to crack or never be fully healthy.
Wandering eyes
Relationships require a party two, no more! If you are in a relationship with someone with a wandering eye, that is not okay. Your partner can pull any excuse out of the book and say they are just playful or friendly, but bottomline it is not okay. If it bothers you and you voice your concern, your partner should respect that. If they don’t, then they are being disrespectful of your relationship and taking you for granted. Maybe their intention isn’t to flirt, but it is not okay to continue to do something that makes you uncomfortable. Make your feelings known so change can happen. But if your partner crosses the line and cheats, then you need to kick them out the door.
No relationship is perfect. However here is a huge difference between a struggle or challenge here and there, and a full on toxic relationship. You can’t fight all the time, not trust each other and flirt with others because that is not fair to one and other. You need an open stream of communication to know how your partner feels and to work together to fix it. It won’t happen overnight. In fact, it can take some time and you may even have the same fight over and over again, but at some point you need to stop to resolve the issues. If not, things will either end in a breakup, which may be for he best, or you end up unhappy and unhealthy together for too long. My advice is to try to work things out, but if the relationship can’t be salvaged then choose your own happiness and drop the dead weight. There is a chance it may just not be meant to be.
Born and raised in Northern Virginia, Christina aspires to be a public relations professional in a big city after graduation from James Madison University. In her free time when she’s not blogging away about dating and relationships, Christina loves to go shopping, watch Netflix and play with every puppy that crosses her path.