How to Know You're in a Bad Relationship?
Arguments and challenges are inseparable parts of any relationship, let it be in the personal life or the business domain. When it comes to personal life, it's not always easy to be in a romantic relationship, but the advantages and positive signs outnumber the challenges you need to go through.
A healthy relationship helps both sides to feel safe, loved, respected, and emotionally supported. When the couples are at the early stages of their relationship, everything seems to be in its perfect condition. You enjoy going out on dates, like to spend hours talking to each other, trying to learn more about your partner's personality and making them happy.
However, as time passes, it's important for both men and women to feel comfortable and happy. Mutual respect and trust are among the essential qualities and signs that make a relationship healthy. Such couples know each other's boundaries, interests, values, and bad attitudes and do their best to grow with peace of mind.
Unhealthy Relationship Definition
An unhealthy relationship makes you feel bad about yourself. You usually undergo excess levels of stress and bad feelings that affect your mentality and everyday routines negatively.
In a toxic and bad relationship, one side tries to have power over the other. Consider the situation when your partner always wants to tell you what to do, where to go and treats you inappropriately in front of friends or other people. These are the bad signs you should be aware of.
To be more specific, let's look at the most typical qualities and signs of a bad relationship.
Unhealthy Relationship Characteristics and Important Signs
If you experience the following signs of a bad relationship, you'd better ask for help.
You Fight and Argue Too Much
It's not bad for your relationship if you have some disagreements and bicker once in a while. But you should know that your relationship is going bad if your arguments become usual. Constant arguments, violence, and shouts are the common signs of unhealthy relationships.
Repetitive arguments about the same things repeatedly are a bad sign showing that you can't find resolutions for the problems. Couples involved in a healthy relationship will reach some agreements, or in some cases, agree to disagree. This approach doesn't let the simple things take the place of more important matters between you.
Either One of You Shows Signs of Being Jealous
One of the frequent unhealthy behaviors in relationships is that the man or the woman gets pissed off upon seeing their partner talking to another person, sending messages, or going out with them. Trying to find their mobile password and sneaking a glance at their messages are bad signs of this problem.
Unfortunately, some couples believe this behavior is a sign of affection and care, which is very wrong. Having some jealousy is normal, but the uncontrolled behaviors are very bad since they result in seeing your partner as a liar who can't be trusted.
You Expect to See Returns for Whatever You Do
True love makes people generous. Lovers do many things for each other, whether small or big, just because they care about each other. They don't do things expecting to see action in return.
It's one of the 10 signs you're in a bad relationship when your purpose of doing things is to get your partner to do something else for you. These bad expectations shouldn't necessarily be the same. For instance, you might help her with chores in the house so that she makes the favorite food you like for the night. Whatever behaviors you have in this regard are signs of bad selfishness and the inability to ask your needs directly.
You Keep Blaming Each Other For the Past Events
People who are not good at relationships always try to prove that their partner is responsible for their problems. They keep a record of bad signs and past events in their mind and get back to this collection of mistakes to remind their partner they're badly in debt.
Relying on the previous wrongs to make your partner feel guilty at present wastes your energy around things that are not a priority in a relationship. In this situation, you always focus on focus rather than looking for ways to solve them. In the long run, this sign ends you up with a grown distance between you, and you look at each other as the guilty party of the issues.
You Know Each Other Responsible for Your Emotions
Consider that you've had a bad, tough day at work that has made you overwhelmed. You need some emotional support from your partner, but she's going out with her friends because they've already planned for that day. In this situation, you find signs of being unsupportive and uncaring in her, without even telling what happened to you during the bad day.
The selfish behavior of blaming others for your frustrations is another critical matter among unhealthy relationship signs. When you get used to keeping your partner responsible for your emotions, you open doors to a bad codependent relationship. In this case, even the simplest tasks require negotiation between the two of you.
You Don't Like To Share Your Feelings
A relationship is not only about expressing your love to each other. Preferring not to state your ideas, concerns, or bad news is one of the signs showing unhealthy relationship traits. You should have enough room to express all of your feelings in your relationship without worrying about arguments or other bad reactions from your partner.
However, some people have this personality trait to hide their feelings and avoid showing any signs, no matter how good or bad their relationship is. These people should consult with a therapist to find ways to express how they feel in both positive and negative situations.
You Always Watch What You Say to Avoid Misunderstanding
Being afraid of your partner is the next important issue among the 10 signs you're in a bad relationship. At the same time, some individuals don't know the exact reason behind their fear, not expressing your thoughts and feelings to your partner limits you badly in your relationship.
Whether you're afraid of their bad reaction to what you say, the way they treat you afterward, or even the possibility of hurting themselves, fearing your partner does you no good at all. It's a sign with the result of getting trapped in a relationship that has limited you, and you steer clear of stating your opinions to prevent the situation from getting worse.
You Feel Signs of Having to Change Yourself to Make Them Happy
Small changes happen for many men and women when they start a new relationship. But such changes can turn into signs of a bad relationship when they reach a level that you feel you're going to change who you are at your core to satisfy your partner.
It's not a good sign when one of the sides tries to mold their values and even their clothing tastes to suit their partner's expectations. Contrary to healthy relationships that partners try to work on themselves to make things better, one of the sides in a bad relationship loses himself to maintain the relationship. Don't forget that your life can be much happier in all aspects if you never have to fake who you are.
Your Friends Don't Like Your Partner
Many people ignore how their close friends and family members feel about their partners. Underrating those opinions and behavioral signs is not correct, and you should care about the thought of those you trust.
Your family and real friends who like you want to see you happy and look at your relationship from an outsider's perspective. You might have been on the other side about a family or friend of yours who's in a bad relationship, and you hate their partner because you don't like to see them sad. So if you find your partner not well-liked by your loved ones that might be a sign of a bad relationship.
One of You Always Makes the Important Decisions
Equal partnership is an excellent sign of healthy relationships. Both people feel respected, heard, and cared for and have active involvements in the important decisions related to their lives.
However, when one of you calls all the shots, and the other has to follow their way and opinion, it's necessary to reevaluate the relationship. A relationship gets unhealthy when someone has too much power over the other one. Imagine the conditions you can only meet each other when it's convenient for your partner. Another bad sign could be that you only go to their friends' parties and can't invite your friends for gatherings.
Explore Unhealthy Relationship Advice Here
Recognize the Shortcomings and Bad Signs
The first step is to accept there are problems between you and agree on the signs and items you're going to fix. Things can get badly complicated at this stage. One person might think they need to have more trust in each other, while the other person sees no bad sign in that part and believes they should improve the affections between them.
Learn to Communicate Effectively
You can make the conditions better when you learn to talk about important things without blaming each other or judging. When your goal is to solve the problems, it no longer matters whose fault it has been in the current bad state. It would be best to prioritize the more critical signs and issues. Try to get over selfishness and the bad desire to win the arguments.
Consult with Experts About the Bad Signs
If you face the bad signs of an unhealthy relationship, no one can help you better than a therapist. Consulting with an expert in relationships can help you find the roots of your problems more manageable and take more effective actions accordingly. So it's worth spending some time to find an experienced therapist in your city and schedule therapy sessions as much needed to resolve the destructive signs and issues soonest possible.