When entering aromantic relationship, a person seeks a healthy relationship in which both partners aim to make each other happy and continually strengthen the relationship. Each person can freely and comfortably express their needs, while both partners support each other in making and carrying out decisions without blame, guilt, or accusations of falling short.

A healthy relationship can be described as one that is not governed by fear or anxiety. By contrast, what may be described as toxic relationships are those in which one or both partners feel constantly threatened and unsafe, with one or both tending toward possessiveness, control, or selfishness, whether directly or indirectly. It is natural for one partner to try to establish boundaries and take control at the beginning of a relationship, and this may be explained by differences between the partners. Usually, however, they later find a way to share responsibility for managing the relationship.

How can you tell if someone is toxic?

  1. You constantly feel that they are taking advantage of you.
  2. You keep giving without receiving anything in return.
  3. They treat you disrespectfully.
  4. They show no consideration for your feelings and needs.
  5. They do not respond to your requests.
  6. You experience low self-confidence..
  7. You lack a sense of safety and emotional support.
  8. You are constantly preoccupied with pleasing them and making them happy.
  9. You always feel that you are wrong and being blamed without a clear reason.
  10. You do not feel comfortable when talking to them or being around them.
  11. You repeatedly experience a lack of passion and energy, as well as anger.
  12. Your only goal in the relationship becomes avoiding problems.

Why do I attract toxic relationships?

Upbringing is a decisive factor that can draw a person toward toxic relationships because it acts as a mirror of what is inside us and who we are, and it is fundamental to shaping our personalities. When we grow up in a family environment that pushes us to justify ourselves constantly and continually seek our parents’ approval, this is reflected in how we interact with those around us, including a partner. Childhood upbringing is therefore one reason a person may gravitate toward these relationships. A child may grow up in an environment where one or both parents have an unstable mood, causing the child to feel that they must constantly tread carefully to avoid these mood swings.

This environment is frightening for a child and affects the completion of their mental development. Their mind remains focused on how to avoid their parents’ sudden and unpredictable reactions, and the child cannot understand that they are not the cause of the outburst or angerthat their parents experience. This leaves the child feeling that they caused the situation and that it is their fault.

The child therefore grows up believing that the success of any relationship depends on fulfilling the partner’s wishes and trying to please them at the expense of their own needs and happiness. This means following any rules the partner sets and apologizing for things they did not do, as though the happiness of everyone around them were their responsibility.

When should you leave a toxic relationship?

1. When you are trapped in memories of the relationship’s happy past to escape the present.

When the only reason you remain in the relationship is its past and the happy moments it contained because the relationship is miserable in the present, this indicates that you are living in an unhealthy, toxic relationship. The past and its happy memories should generate feelings of love, not be the reason the relationship continues.

2. When the relationship continually makes you feel afraid instead of reassured and comfortable..

A person seeks a romantic relationship to feel reassured and emotionally supported, not sad and miserable. If you spend most of the relationship feeling sadness and fear, depriving you of comfort and safety, this indicates that the relationship is toxic and should be ended.

3. When your partner constantly tries to change you.

A healthy relationship is based on acceptance and unconditional love. A partner should not place me into a mold and make their feelings toward me dependent on how well I fit it. If your partner imposes conditions governing your appearance or lifestyle, and these conditions require a complete and fundamental change, be certain that you are in a toxic relationship.

4. When you remain in the relationship because you continually believe things will improve..

Romantic relationships often give us a vivid imagination that makes us see everything beautiful in a partner and overlook every warning sign surrounding the relationship. Because of this, many people who are not living in memories of a happy past become prisoners of an imagination telling them that the future will be more beautiful and better. But the future is like the past: just as you should not live in the past, you should not live in the future. If the relationship is purposeful and comfortable, it will remain so in the future. If the opposite is true, do not expect matters to improve.

5. When feelings of love between you and your partner have faded.

Nothing is eternal or inevitable. We must understand that everything can change, including the great love we experience today. The extent and form of this change depend on the strength of our romantic relationship. If it is a fragile, toxic relationship in which we do not feel comfortable or safe, our feelings will certainly be vulnerable to change as well. When this happens, it is preferable to leave the relationship because it is no longer governed by affection and feelings, which have changed, but by habit and routine.

6. When you are always under suspicion and have to justify your actions.

When you are continually subjected to doubt and must offer justifications for every situation, whether it warrants an explanation or not, simply to preserve the relationship and make it succeed, you must recognize that it is unreasonable for doubt and justification to become a way of life. When this happens, it is one of the clearest signs that you are in a toxic relationship that you should leave.

7. When the relationship brings you nothing but psychological and physical harm.

When a relationship causes psychological exhaustion, this is one of the clearest signs that it is not fulfilling its purpose: providing reassurance, emotional support, and safety. The same applies when we experience physical or verbal harm. All these signs indicate the need to let go of this toxic relationship.

How do I leave a toxic relationship?

  1. Recognize that the relationship you are in is toxic.
  2. Recognize that you do not deserve this toxic relationship and that you deserve better.
  3. Identify the reasons you want to end the toxic relationship.
  4. Organize your thoughts and sound reasons for ending the toxic relationship privately first.
  5. Practice discussing them clearly and directly with your partner.
  6. Be confident and firm when raising the subject with your partner.
  7. Tell your partner that you want to speak with them about your relationship.
  8. Choose the form of communication through which you feel safest and most comfortable expressing yourself.
  9. If you choose to meet, select a place that suits you.
  10. Be firm, and do not allow hesitation or fear to control your decision to end the toxic relationship.
  11. Give your partner room to speak and express their feelings about your decision, and listen to them.
  12. If your partner tries to pressure you to reverse your decision, restate it firmly so they understand that it is final.
  13. If your partner continues using phrases intended to drain you emotionally, leave without looking back, dwelling on what they say, or allowing their words to affect you.

Human relationships are based on giving and receiving, whether they involve love, marriage, friendship, work, or even parents and their children. Many people mistakenly think they can sustain relationships by only receiving or only giving, regardless of what giving and receiving mean within that particular relationship. The needs fulfilled by our relationship with one person differ from those fulfilled by another relationship. What exhausts any relationship most, however, is having one party who only wants to receive and does not recognize the other person’s needs or how to meet them. This drains the other person and depletes their reserves, potentially leading to psychological problems such as feelings of worthlessness, self-blame, and even depression.

We often notice that when a partner is concerned only with receiving and we express needs they are not meeting, they run away from us. They seek another relationship that satisfies only their own desires and needs, making us feel bad about ourselves. Sometimes we are abandoned because the other person cannot meet our needs or because we have made so many sacrifices that they feel they could never repay us, no matter what they do.

When entering any relationship, it is therefore important to ensure that what we invest through giving will be met with something we need in return. It is important to give in a balanced way without exhausting ourselves or the other person. It is also essential for our self-esteem to be high. This enables us to deal with others and ask for our needs to be met. We will not be vulnerable to accepting a toxic relationship because of emotional deprivation, and ending a relationship will not hurt us to the same extent. Clearly explaining our needs to the other person and helping them meet those needs, while understanding and working to meet their needs in return, is what helps us sustain any relationship, develop it, and grow together with it.