A sure sign of a toxic relationship is that you are unhappy. They are more stressful than joyful. Such relationships are filled with guilt and resentment, and your self-esteem suffers. A toxic relationship is often challenging to end because of a dependence on the partner and a fear of changing things.
How Not to Get Into a Toxic Relationship
This an alarming sign if you barely know the person and it already seems like the love of your life. To love a person, you have to get to know them. If they do not leave your head all day, and your mood depends on whether this person shows you attention – this is a signal. Be careful. Illusions of a happy future with strangers are too often crushed by reality.
Pay attention to your feelings. When we really like a person, we are ready to forgive him a lot. But if you are worried about something, make sure to show interest. Try to clarify your concerns immediately. Find out what the person’s attitude is. Draw conclusions based on the answers. Do not rush to agree to any terms. To be together!
We really want to believe in the joint happiness that we built in our heads. However, the relationship should be built with a natural person, not with illusions about him. It is risky to fall in love without memory and put your well-being on the line. A relationship with the wrong person is a heavy burden.
Signs of a Toxic Relationship
How do you know if you’re in a toxic relationship? As we already said, the main sign of such a relationship is that you are unhappy. But there are others as well:
- You feel like you need to develop. A relationship is supposed to promote personal growth.
- You have abandoned your favorite hobbies. Often do not do what you want but what your partner wants.
- Meetings with friends have become rare. And it bothers you.
- You are manipulated. For example, your partner often scares a breakup.
- Your feelings are devalued. You are convinced that your feelings are wrong or ignore them.
- Your mood is entirely dependent on your partner.
- You are being abused: physically, emotionally, sexually, or economically.
Pay attention if your partner mistreats other people. He may soon begin to mistreat you.
Why Do We Stay in a Toxic Relationship?
Toxic relationships are hard to escape because people look to the past to justify them. The hallmark of a normal healthy relationship is a sense of stability and confidence in your partner. Reliability and the ability to trust. You feel stable now and are willing to think about the future with your partner.
Things are different in a toxic relationship. The future together looks hazy, and the shared present is constantly cracking at the seams. You two are bound by the past, those happy moments that were but are gone. Toxic relationships are held on pleasant memories, which can last many years. In a healthy relationship, the thought of a future together with that partner does not cause anxiety or fear.
How Do I Get Out of a Toxic Relationship?
Toxic relationships are not just for couples. The people closest to you can also be toxic: parents, siblings, and friends. Ending a traumatic relationship with them is very difficult. It is important to remember: an attempt to change the person who is systematically causing you pain is doomed to failure. You have to choose to break up with the toxic person or stay, accepting that he will not change.
If you have to decide, but it is too complicated – it is worth asking for help from a specialist. A psychologist can help remove the uncertainty and find the inner resources to take this critical step toward a happy life.
These Movies And Series Will Help You Understand The Subject
Berlin Syndrome
While on vacation in Berlin, Claire meets the charming Andy and an instant attraction develops between them. After a stroll through the city together, they spend the night together, but what at first sight seems to be the beginning of a stormy romance suddenly takes a sinister turn.
IMDb 6.30 – Berlin Syndrome
Claire, a female traveler and photographer meets a nice guy named Andy and discovers many common interests. She finds herself locked in his shabby apartment in the suburbs with soundproofed double-paned windows. The film shows a “portrait” of a typical abusive relationship.
The hero wears flower gifts, loves her very much, and wants very little – for her to become “normal”: to stop trying to run away, to sit quietly at home, to cook dinner, to wait for her man from work. In an abusive relationship, it’s precisely the same. Only the role of reinforced windows and a locked door is played by psychological dependence, memories of a happy past, shared children, fear of change, and insecurity. The things that keep you from “just getting up and leaving.” But if Claire has succeeded, others have a chance.
Big Little Lies
At a charity ball thrown by the PTA of a school in a provincial but very respectable California town, a murder occurs. Desperate housewife Celeste Wright, the model wife of passionate young Perry, finds herself in a typically destructive relationship.
IMDb 8.50 – Big Little Lies
“Big Little Lies” is a story about how a pretty facade and the ability to hold oneself up in public only mask family problems. It is in no way proof that they don’t exist. Four women from California (the American broadcaster has moved the location from Australia to the Pacific Coast) take their children to the same first grade: these are women of different characters and approaches to life. We meet the local socialite (Laura Dern), a housewife with a rich husband (Nicole Kidman), a businesswoman (Reese Witherspoon), and a young middle-class single mom (Shailene Woodley): their life experiences and temperaments do not match, but all want the best for their children and are used to standing up for themselves and their principles to their surroundings.
The series does not idealize attachment, the domestic part of romance, and the problems inherent in long-term relationships. We see realistic quarrels between partners who do not hear each other, swallowed grievances, imperatives toward children, and the typical vocabulary of domestic violence. At the same time, the series is not didactic: all the characters have several dimensions, and the writers take great pains not to idealize the characters and not to hang one label on them.
