We all want to receive and give love. It’s a universal human need. As social creatures we seek out acceptance and affection. Some of us will do nearly anything to get it. I’ve held onto relationships far too long, overly romanticized partners, and dedicated far too much of my energy into my romantic endeavors. We will go against all common sense and logic and cling to completely hopeless situations.
I’m writing this from a woman’s perspective, women tend to fall into this pattern more than men. We’re simply conditioned to view men as projects to fix, or as people to save. Our culture encourages women to put the needs of their partner ahead of their own. We mistakenly view a relationship, as a more noble cause than our own happiness and well-being. Some men will fall into these bad patterns too, but it seems more culturally acceptable when a women subjugates her own needs for the sake of a relationship. I’ve been incredibly guilty of this in the past, but being on the wrong side of a bad marriage has given me tremendous perspective. Recently, I turned to a friend and said simply:
If you were in college, your major would be your crazy boyfriend. Just think what you could accomplish if you put all of this energy into yourself.
Although it briefly upset my friend when I said this, she eventually agreed with me. She was spending all of her waking hours devoted to a totally lost cause.
It was the classic story of boy meets girl, only to have the boy blow up at the girl in a controlling rage. Then the girl breaks it off, only to have the boy beg her back. The same inane cycle became stuck on repeat ad nauseam. She pretty much was breaking up with him, the minute they started dating. Three then four months went by with no change. Small details of possible infidelity, a ray of hope of changing behavior, maybe a brief vacation from the madness, but the chaos would return. Another knockdown, drag-out fight complete with name calling, insults, slurs, and it would all start over again.
My friend stopped everything in her life. She stopped working, because her boyfriend didn’t like her job. He paid her bills and her rent and she became completely dependent on him. He resented her for being so needy and she blamed him for putting her in a dependent situation. She felt like she couldn’t completely break it off with him since was financially dependent. It was a simply ridiculous situation. Becoming financially dependent on a partner completely throws off the entire power structure. It literally makes it next to impossible for the dependent partner to leave. Some partnerships work well in this dynamic but it’s generally a bad idea to give up everything for the sake of a man.
Some of use fall in love with an idea or a romanticized notion of another person and despite EVERY red flag blowing in the wind we refuse to see reality. Sometimes what we think of as love is just a form of narcissism. A person looks so good on paper, we think they should work out. Or we like some superficial quality about them, and it gets us hooked. They might have a great job, a wonderful apartment, or drop dead gorgeous but they are still completely wrong for us and we won’t let go.
As a person who has been there and back, I can tell you that if you aren’t living with a person, you’re not married and you don’t have kids, then absolutely nothing should keep you in a bad relationship. Living on top of one another can create all sorts of problems and tensions, marriage puts an enormous pressure on a relationship, and children are like miniature nuclear weapons of chaos wrapped in high-octane emotions. You probably won’t agree on how to handle every conflict or situation your kid present, and despite loving them with all your heart, those little ones will push you to your limits. So, if you’re just dating and it’s taking all of your energy to simply function – BREAK UP NOW! If you haven’t been together long, and you are working so hard at keeping it together you’re simply incompatible. Of course relationships take work, and they aren’t always easy but they shouldn’t take over your life.
When I look back at the sacrifices I made for my doomed marriage I want to grab myself by both shoulders and shake some sense into my head. No one is perfect and we’ve all made these mistakes, but after losing everything in a brutal divorce I will never go back there again.
We all want and deserve love in our lives, but that love should not come with such a great cost. Ultimately we can only rely on ourselves and if another person is creating such havoc and grief, they aren’t worth it. No one should dictate what we do for a living, where we go, or how we spend our time. No matter how beautiful they might be, or how much we want them as a partner, no one is worth giving up our own hopes and dreams. Jettison a toxic partner and move forward, the perfect match could be waiting for you, and you won’t have to go through hell to have them in your life.
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