As much as you care and love the person you are in a relationship with, eventually, you may be faced with the despairing reality that the relationship is broken and beyond repair. Knowing when to let go is often the most difficult part of ending a bad relationship.
The features of a healthy, functional relationship are truthfulness, clear communication, and mutual respect. When these elements are absent, it is time to re-evaluate the relationship or consider ending a bad relationship.
Communication breakdown is frequently the first sign that the relationship is failing. When couples start hiding personal problems, stop discussing financial issues, or too much stress and guilt become barriers to good communication, problems usually become serious. If communication has become nonexistent or is consistently negative, it may be time to implement plans for ending a bad relationship.
When your partner tends to continuously identify your faults, undermines your self-worth, or manipulates you with shame or fear, the relationship is probably doomed and it is time to develop a plan for ending a bad relationship. However, physical and emotionally abusive behaviors generally escalate over time and leaving can be the most dangerous point in this relationship. You will need to consult with domestic violence experts before ending a bad relationship with an abusive partner.
Infidelity is most often very destructive and hurtful to those involved in a relationship. While many relationships can find ways to recover from just one affair, it is nearly impossible to recover from the devastation of repeated unfaithfulness. If you constantly live under the cloud of your partner’s lack of loyalty and the feelings of betrayal, ending a bad relationship maybe your best option.
If you are in a relationship with a partner who has an untreated drug or alcohol addiction it is undoubtedly a very exhausting and agonizing experience. Sooner or later you will find yourself trapped in a cycle of being the crisis manager. That will leave you emotionally drained and with very little power over your own life.
Being involved in a relationship with an alcoholic or drug abuser is often emotionally traumatizing because many people falsely believe that they can bring about change in the addicted partner’s destructive behaviors. The bold truth is that ending a bad relationship with this dynamic is the only healthy solution. Partners with addiction problems simply aren’t capable of having healthy relationships. Ending a bad relationship with a partner with a substance addiction is probably the only way to restore a sense of order to your own life.
Being hopelessly in love with a habitual criminal is just that – hopeless. The constant wondering about what your partner’s next criminal charges will be and how you will scrape up the funds for a good defense can be frustrating. Before you race out at 3:00 AM to post bond after learning of your partner’s latest arrest, you may want to talk to a therapist and devise a course of action that will help you with the process of ending the bad relationship.
Breaking up is never easy and change isn’t effortless either. It is human nature to strive to avoid pain and unpleasant experiences but you deserve to be loved and in a relationship where there is genuine respect for each other. Ending a bad relationship is the first step toward taking control of your life.
