How to Control Your Emotions in a Relationship

How to Control Your Emotions in a Relationship

Knowing how to control your emotions in a relationship could very well keep you from experiencing a terrible breakup.

While everyone loses control sometimes, others experience emotional reactivity on a regular basis. Today, I’d like to help you recognize if this might be you and help you develop some healthy strategies to regain control.

What does it Mean to be Emotionally Reactive?

When you’re emotionally reactive, you tend to react quickly and negatively to even the mildest of situations.

For example, you and your boyfriend are eating out and the waiter brings your food. Instead of bringing you a baked potato with sour cream, he’s forgotten the sour cream. Your guy goes ballistic. He begins berating the server and is furiously waving his arms in a threatening way.

That’s being emotionally reactive. Let’s look at a more common example.

You’re driving down the road and someone pulls out in front of you, not so close that it threatens an accident, but it startled you nonetheless. You begin calling this person names and flipping him your middle finger.

That too is being emotionally reactive.

Let’s try one more example, this time a relationship example.

You and your partner are enjoying a nice dinner at home when he brings up something you did that he didn’t like. He’s started the conversation in the right way – you’re both happy and enjoying a nice moment together.

But you lose it completely. You feel defensive, maybe even a little attacked, and you resent his comment. You explain that you did what you did to protect yourself in some way and how dare he criticize you for it, except you aren’t explaining, you’re yelling.

The argument devolves into flying insults which you initiate, and he eventually joins in. This argument continues until he finally waves his arms in the air in frustration, grabs his keys, and heads out the door.

After you’ve cooled off, you feel guilty and maybe even a little embarrassed. How did that happen? Let’s find out.

how to control your emotions

How to Control Your Emotions | Understand Why It Bothered You

There are a variety of reasons why you may be emotionally reactive.

You’ve Experienced a Past Trauma That is Now Triggered

I think every single human being can relate to this cause. I like examples, so let’s use another one.

Carrie and her husband were married for twelve years before their divorce. Mark, her now ex-husband, was verbally abusive and was constantly saying things that were at the least rude and at the most, very hurtful.

A couple of years after their divorce, Carrie was dating Brett. They were enjoying a nice date when Brett said something that immediately triggered an emotional response from Carrie. It was something her ex had said to her and while Brett had meant no disrespect or harm, her ex had, and that’s what she reacted to.

In what seemed like an out-of-body experience, Carrie few off the handle. She was immediately sorry and apologized to Brett, but the problem lingered in her mind. Finally, she realized that what Brett said was very much like something her ex said to her that always made her feel ashamed. The next time she saw Brett, she explained her reaction and promised to do better.

Carrie had a few other hot buttons that were uncovered over the next year or so, but she learned to manage them and eventually, she didn’t react. Today, she couldn’t even tell you what they were.

You Misinterpret People’s Body Language and Intent

Some people are great at reading body language, but some aren’t. Honestly, many people aren’t even aware of their body language or anyone else’s and might not realize that they’re sending certain signals or misinterpreting someone else’s body language.

Still, this can make it hard for you to interpret someone’s. When you’re already in an emotionally reactive frame of mind, you tend to misinterpret people’ body language in the negative.

While someone might be doing something very innocent, you misread the cues and feel threatened or wronged by that person. Your tendency to jump to negative assumptions puts you on the defensive and you’re immediately angry.

The next thing you know, you’re jumping down their throat, carrying on about something, but they have no clue what they’ve done. This, of course, makes you even angrier, and so it goes.

What’s happening is that you’re inadvertently sending a danger signal to your brain and the fight or flight stuff kicks in. Your heart rate accelerates, and you become akin to a mother bear protecting her young. You growl and lash out at the attacker to protect yourself. The problem is that you weren’t ever in danger to begin with.

How to Control Your Emotions | Debunk Your False Beliefs

We’re all told stories when we’re kids, and some of them are scary. As we get older, the beliefs of our parents can infiltrate our own belief system.

For example, your mother may have been afraid of tall men with beards. Maybe she’d experienced something scary with a man who looked like that and now, she associates her fear with any man who looks the same.

Consequently, she’s passed that fear to you, so whenever you see a tall man with a beard, you think the worst. You might even be so fearful that you turn the other way. You feel your fight or flight kick in because you were raised to believe this person is a threat.

It’s also possible to be raised with beliefs about people who believe certain things, like their faith, for example.

Often, these false beliefs come from faulty experiences and information. Look back in your life. How many tall men with beards have you come across? Were they all bad people? Probably none of them were. Now, you can begin to work on eliminating that belief from your life.

These types of beliefs are usually easy to debunk, if you set your mind to it. The everyone who believes X or everyone who looks… beliefs are way too general. You should easily be able to recall someone from your life who fits that description and isn’t that way.

how to control your emotions

Paranoia

A more extreme example is someone who’s paranoid. Mostly, this is someone who has a psychosis or is on drugs. Most folks don’t experience this.

Still, when you’re paranoid, you believe everyone has an agenda against you. You see everyone as a threat and live in constant fear.

For people who live this way, treatment and medication are the best paths forward.

How to Control Your Emotions | Work on Your Anger Management Issues

I suppose by definition, emotional reactivity and problems with anger management seem to be the same thing, and in some way they are.

If you find yourself angry at the most basic things, you are probably battling anger management issues.

There are several underlying causes for anger management and often, the best way to deal with it is to work with a professional who can help you uncover the cause and work toward better emotional regulation.

Low Confidence and Low Self-Esteem

If you don’t believe in yourself, you will find the things people say to almost feel more like an attack than a passing comment.

Let’s look at how this might play out.

You and a friend are out for lunch on a Saturday afternoon. It’s been a long week at work and you’re looking forward to winding down and enjoying this time.

As you’re dining, a woman glides by, very well-dressed and put together. Your friend makes a comment about how pretty she is and you’re immediately on the defensive. You may hear yourself say, “Am I not pretty???” as your voice raises an octave or two?

Stunned, your friend looks at you, realizing she’s made a mistake. There is no amount of backpedaling she can do now to calm you down.

The reason you reacted this way is that you don’t believe yourself to be pretty. Your self-esteem is low and having someone seemingly point that out hurts.

Luckily for you, this is one you can work out yourself.

I Want to Change My Life!

You Have a History of Abuse

If you have lived a life of abuse, you’re going to be naturally defensive. You believe everyone is out to hurt you and not wanting to be hurt anymore, you immediately fly into fight or flight mode to protect yourself.

If you’re truly in danger, of course, this is a great response, but most of the time, we don’t find ourselves in mortal danger.

This is another instance in which seeking out a professional works best to help you overcome the underlying cause of your reactivity.

Dealing with your past abuse is something a professional is best suited to help you with.

how to control your emotions

How to Control Your Emotions

Now that you have all of the background information on being emotionally reactive, let’s see if we can’t work through some ways in which you can be more emotionally proactive.

Take a Breath and Count to Ten

I know it sounds like a cliché, but this is one of the best tools you can develop. Being reactive occurs because you don’t take time to think first about how you want to react.

If you take the time to breathe in and out deeply while you count to ten, you fill feel the fight or flight urge lessen and you will have the opportunity to consider the proper response.

This takes practice and won’t be something you just start doing. It takes a conscious effort to recognize that your emotions are ramping up and the ability to stop before it’s too late.

Good news though.

Every single human being has the capability to do this. Me. You. Your partner. Your parents. Your kids.

Many people are never taught that they have this ability and I’ve angered more than a few people by telling them this. Why?

Because when you’re emotionally reactive, you’re blaming someone else for how you’re reacting to the situation. That jerk pulled out in front of you. Your partner said something that ticked you off. It was their fault.

When you become emotionally proactive or in control, you own that you are the one who chose how to react, even though it didn’t feel like it at the time.

Learning to be emotionally proactive or in control of your emotions is a huge leap in your level of maturity. It’s called emotional intelligence.

If you get to ten and you’re still angry, it might be time to step away from the situation for a longer period of time so cooler heads can prevail. Allow yourself time to come up with a way to deal with what happened.

How to Control Your Emotions | See it From Their Point of View

This is a toughie because it forces you to be empathetic when you want to be angry or frustrated. Still, you know there are people who just set you off as soon as you see them.

Terrie was tasked with hiring and working with someone to redo their company website and her boss already had someone in mind. She and a coworker met with this man several times and the guy just got under Terrie’s skin, no matter how hard she tried. He was condescending and rude and she didn’t like him.

The coworker quickly saw that Terrie’s buttons were pushed by this man and took up the job of corresponding with the web designer. As soon as he would see an email to both of them, he would stop by her office to tell her that he would handle it.

Terrie wasn’t proud of how this guy got under her skin, but she found that the more she stayed on the periphery of the project, the smoother things went.

If there’s someone like this in your life, it’s best to try to avoid them as much as you can. If it’s someone who’s genuinely rude to you, then it truly may be them and not you, but if there’s no rational reason why this person gets under your skin, it might be time to look for those faulty beliefs.

Practice Active Listening

Sometimes, being emotionally reactive comes from not taking the time to hear what another person is saying. Being an active listener seems to be a lost skill these days.

Instead of listening and formulating your next thing to say while the speaker is still talking, stop your own thoughts and just listen.

The need to best your opposing speaker comes from a place of low confidence. You want to show what you know or share that your life or experience was more extreme.

After the other person has spoken, take a moment or two to think before you speak. What truly is the best response? How can you appropriately validate their comments by agreeing or showing empathy?

Taking this path, instead of trying to best someone, always produces a better conversational experience. It also forces you to consider your response and be less reactive.

How to Control Your Emotions | Find New Outlets for Your Emotions

When you don’t know how to control your emotions, they can build up with no effective outlet. Negative emotion builds and builds until you almost feel like you’re going to explode.

One way to let out negative emotions is through journaling. Try writing about how you feel about things. Write about your daily experiences and what feelings were triggered. You can think of a journal as the friend at the other end of the line who will listen without issuing a judgment.

Another way to channel your emotions is through meditation. There are tons of YouTubers out there who provide guided meditations.

Some people find art to be a great outlet. In fact, there’s such a thing as art therapy to help people manage difficult things in their lives. And it doesn’t need to be art specifically. You can find this release through music, art, literature, or any other hobby. These tend to help you release and even trigger the release of hormones that calm you down and help alleviate stress.

A final suggestion is to take up a sport or exercise. Boxing is an excellent way to release pent-up emotions, but a fifteen-minute walk can do the same if you don’t want to take on the expense of boxing. Any exercise outlet you choose will help because your body releases endorphins during physical activity and those are often labeled feel-good hormones.

how to control your emotions

Learn to be Aware of Your Thoughts

Earlier, I said that we all have the ability to control our emotional responses to things. You may have scoffed, but it’s true, and I encourage you to pay attention to not only your emotions but your thoughts.

Teach yourself to listen to your thoughts before you act on them. Learn to discern how you really feel about something before you react to it. During that time of reflection, ask yourself why this particular person or statement bothers you. Can you find a better way to react, or can you choose not to react at all?

Sometimes, if you’re facing someone who’s showing animosity, the best response is no response. Responding only fuels their fire.

One of the best ways to work through this is journaling, again. After you encounter a difficult situation, journal about it. Ask yourself those questions. Where did that feeling come from? If you allow your thoughts to flow freely, you will be able to uncover the secret of why.

How to Control Your Emotions | Learn More About Your Triggers

Understanding why you react the way you do goes a long way in helping you overcome emotional reactivity. Like the example above, you might learn that a particular phrase brings back negative memories. Once you understand this, you’ll be more dialed into it when other phrases are used.

Or it might be that when your friend mentioned that the woman passing by was pretty, it stirred up your own insecurity about your own physical appearance.

Again, and I do feel like a broken record here, journaling can help you. As you journal, take time every week or so to read back through your entries. Look for hidden cues and patterns. You may not notice them as you’re writing, but if you look back over a few days’ worth of entries, they might stand out.

Practice Self-Care

Sometimes the reason you are emotionally reactive is that you’re physically and emotionally exhausted. In this case, a self-care routine can be very beneficial.

Some days try your patience and other days that just flow smoothly from wakeup to bedtime. Regardless, self-care is a way to reset and rejuvenate.

There are several ways to engage in self-care and there are different types of self-care. Most people are familiar with the bubble bath/candles/glass of wine type of self-care, but there are many other things you can do.

Try the Little Self-Care Handbook for more tips on developing a self-care routine.

How to Control Your Emotions | Concluding Thoughts

When you don’t know how to control your emotions, things can go sideways in your relationship very quickly. Without emotional control, there is a constant barrage of damage to the relationship. Arguments are frequent and hurtful. Things are said and wounds gape open and grow larger.

I once read a story about a father whose son was being verbally abusive to a younger sibling. The father decided it was time to teach his son a lesson, so one morning at breakfast, the father told the son he wanted him to go outside and pound as many nails as he wanted to into their fence.

The young man went out and pounded the nails. When he returned indoors, his father told him to return to the fence and pull the nails out. While the boy had only taken about ten minutes to put dozens of nails into the fence, he found that after ten minutes, he’d only pulled out a few.

He came in, complaining to his father that the nails were too difficult to take out. The father smiled and said, “Son, when you say hurtful things to people, it’s like pounding in those nails. It isn’t very difficult, and you can do a lot of damage in a short amount of time. But it’s more difficult to take those words back, just like it’s more difficult to pull out those nails. And even when you do pull the nails out, a hole remains.”

Your words can’t be taken back, so it’s important to ensure that the words you use are the best and most effective for the situation. And by effective, I don’t mean hurtful. I mean effective in maintaining a healthy relationship.

The first confidence building book for women and a best-seller, Comfortable in Your Own Shoes will prepare you to meet great men and enjoy a happy and fulfilling life. And not just any life, but a life you design for yourself. YOUR life your way! 

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How to Start the New Year Right

How to Start the New Year Right

Everyone wants to start the New Year right and many do that with resolutions, but statistics tell us that 91% of New Year’s resolutions fail within forty-eight hours of the New Year.

WOW! That’s huge and it might feel a little discouraging, but that’s why you have me! I’m here to give you a few great tips on how to start the New Year right!

So why do 91% of resolutions fail within forty-eight hours? Let’s dig in!

start the new year right

Obstacles People Come Up Against in the New Year

One common obstacle that people often face when starting the New Year is setting unrealistic goals or resolutions. While it’s great to aim high, setting goals that are too ambitious can lead to disappointment and a sense of failure if they are not met. This can quickly derail other efforts to make positive changes.

Another common barrier is the lack of a clear plan or strategy. Many people start the New Year with a vague idea of wanting to improve certain aspects of their lives, but without a clear plan of action, it’s easy to lose focus and motivation. This lack of direction can make it difficult to achieve desired outcomes.

Procrastination is another significant obstacle that many people encounter. The start of a new year often brings a sense of renewed energy and motivation, but this can quickly fade as the reality of daily life sets in. Procrastination can lead to missed opportunities and a lack of progress towards goals.

Many people also struggle with maintaining consistency. Whether it’s sticking to a new diet, exercise routine, or other lifestyle changes, maintaining these new habits consistently can be challenging. It’s easy to revert back to old habits, especially when faced with stress or unexpected changes.

Finally, a lack of self-confidence or belief in your ability to make changes can be a major obstacle. This can stem from past failures or a fear of failure. Without a strong belief in your ability to make positive changes, it can be difficult to stay motivated and committed to new goals.

Setting Powerful Goals: Your Foundation for the New Year

It’s the dawn of a fresh year! A fantastic opportunity to re-evaluate last year’s happenings, decide on what lessons were valuable, and outline resolutions to enhance your prospects over the next 365 days. Setting achievable, powerful goals for the coming year doesn’t just happen though—it requires thoughtful reflection, purposeful planning, and accountability mechanisms in place. Let’s dive into it.

First and foremost, reflection is critical. Ask yourself what worked and what didn’t for you in the past months? This introspection helps stimulate a clear idea of where you stand, the space for growth, and the direction you should take to make this year a fulfilling one. Be honest—Growth lies in authenticity.

  • Analyze last year’s goals: Go back to the goals you set last year. Did you achieve them? If not, identify why, and use that intel to inform your future goals.
  • Consider success: Think about the instances where you felt triumphant and true. What sparked these feelings and how can it be integrated into future objectives?
  • Assess your values and vision: People change, and so do their values and vision. It’s important to ensure your goals align with your evolving personal ethos.

Thoughtful reflection leads us to the next step—planning. Once you have a clear sense of what matters to you, carve out landmarks that will guide your journey this year.

  1. Measurable outcomes: Break down your aspirations into quantifiable targets. Instead of setting a vague goal like “getting healthier”, you might decide to “Run 3 times a week for 30 minutes.”
  2. Prioritizing goals: Rank your goals in relation to their importance and urgency. This can help prevent burnout and keep the focus on what genuinely matters to each individual tree rather than the whole forest.
  3. Consistent commitment: Consistency in the pursuit of goals works wonders. Set daily, weekly, or monthly tasks that lead to your ultimate goal.

Now that you’ve reflected and planned, don’t forget about accountability. Having someone or something that holds you responsible for your goals significantly enhances the chance of you sticking to them.

  • Find a mentor or coach: A mentor can offer guidance, encouragement, and constructive feedback throughout your journey.
  • Engage a support group: Having a group of individuals with similar aspirations can be a source of motivation and mutual learning. Their victories will inspire you, and possibly, your story might inspire them!
  • Journaling: Build a habit of jotting down your daily accomplishments. Over time, these entries will serve as your visual scorecard, reminding you of your capabilities and progress.

Remember, a New Year is a fresh canvas, and you’re the artist. Paint your dreams onto this canvas and extend their reach far beyond the boundary of just “resolutions”.

Setting powerful goals is essential, but most importantly, remember to take care of yourself throughout the process. Be patient, acknowledge your achievements however small they may seem, and celebrate your efforts. After all, the journey to a thousand miles begins with a single step!

Learn how to set life-changing goals – the kind of goals you won’t drop in 48 hours – with this awesome workbook! Just click the button below to start today!

This workbook will walk you through setting goals that are meaningful to you and will help you improve your life in ways you never imagined!

Stop sitting by, watching others achieve their goals. In fact, forget about them! This is about you and your new-found ability to have the life you want. 

The workbook is a digital download, so once you complete your purchase, which is less than a cup of coffee, you will be on. your way!

Start the New Year Right with a Self-Care Routine

Starting the New Year right takes more than just setting goals and working towards them; it involves a holistic approach that includes practicing self-care. What exactly does self-care mean to you? Let’s explore this together.

Self-care is about taking time to focus on your well-being and nurturing yourself, both physically and mentally. It’s about establishing routines and habits that promote health, happiness, and restorative balance in your life. And guess what? There’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Self-care looks different for everyone, and what’s most important is finding practices that resonate with you.

Now, why is this important as you start your New Year? Well, maintaining a dedicated self-care routine can have a significant impact on your ability to achieve your goals.

See, goal achievement is often seen as a marathon, not a sprint. Imagine trying to run this marathon while you’re exhausted, burnt out, or feeling unwell. It’s practically impossible, right? That’s where self-care shines – it’s your vital fueling station for this long race called life.

So, how do you go about implementing a successful self-care routine for the New Year? Here are a few tips:

  1. Set aside time for relaxation and reflection each day: This could be anything from meditation to journaling or simply reading a book. The key is to have some ‘me’ time where you can unwind and focus on your inner self.
  2. Prioritize physical health: Regular exercise and healthy eating habits should be a non-negotiable part of your day. Even a 20-minute walk can do wonders for your mood and energy levels.
  3. Surround yourself with positivity: Whether that’s with positive people, inspiration-filled environments or uplifting music, positivity can significantly influence your mental well-being.
  4. Keep learning and growing: Constant growth and learning can give you a sense of achievement, sprinkling joy and satisfaction in your life.

Remember, the goal isn’t perfection here; small consistent changes often lead to massive outcomes. So start small, make gradual changes, and most importantly, be consistent with your self-care routine.

Ultimately, weaving self-care into the fabric of your life will not only aid in the successful attainment of your New Year resolutions but also ensure you’re in the best condition to face whatever challenges the New Year may bring. So, as you strive to start this New Year right, don’t forget to take care of the most crucial player in this game – You!

Having an effective self-care routine is crucial to your daily peace and happiness, but many people falsely believe that self-care is simply taking a hot bath with a glass of wine and some candles.

There are so many other ways to enjoy a self-care routine and this book walks you through them, providing you with many choices on how you can implement a self-care routine into your schedule. 

Positive Mindset: Your Secret Weapon to Conquer New Year Challenges

Now that you know how to set goals and you understand the importance of self-care, it’s time to get the right mindset behind your effort!

Building a positive mindset isn’t instant—it’s a gradual and consistent process. The most vital part is to maintain this mindset throughout the year, not just the first few days or weeks. So, how can you build such a resilient mindset? Well, let’s dive into that.

Tips to Cultivate a Resilient Mindset and Start the New Year Right

The first step is awareness. You must recognize that your thoughts heavily influence your actions. If you continually believe you cannot achieve something, this becomes your reality. So, be aware of what you tell yourself. The idea is to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

The next step involves the consistent practice of positive thinking. Positive affirmations are a brilliant tool. When you start your day with positive affirmations like “I can accomplish anything I set my mind to” or “I’m continually bettering myself,” you’re feeding your mind optimism, resulting in an incredible shift in your perspective and actions.

“Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change.”

Mindfulness is also an effective strategy for cultivating a positive mindset. It involves staying connected with the present moment, thereby reducing anxieties about the future or resentments about the past. There are various ways to practice mindfulness, including meditation, yoga, or simply taking a moment to appreciate the beauty of life around you.

Lastly, remember that a positive mindset doesn’t mean ignoring the challenges that come your way. Rather, it means facing these challenges with optimism, confidence, and the firm belief that you are more than capable of overcoming them.

As you step into the New Year, bear in mind these simple yet powerful tips to help you nurture a resilient mindset—it will be your driving force in achieving your goals and navigating any obstacles in your path.

Embrace a Morning Routine: The First Step to a Successful Day

Imagine starting your day in harmony, feeling relaxed, and filled with positivity. Yes, this can be your reality if you embrace a consistent morning routine. Now, you may be thinking, “I’m just not a morning person”. But, the truth is, you don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to maintain a beneficial morning routine. You just need to create a sequence of activities that resonates with you, boosts your mood, and prepares you for a successful day.

The magic of a morning routine

A structured morning routine can be a game changer for your productivity and well-being. It sets the tone for the day, reduces stress levels by eliminating rushing and decision-making stress, fuels your focus on your goals, and promotes a better work-life balance. No wonder many successful people swear by their morning routine!

  • Establish consistency: Wake up and start your routine at the same time every day. This consistency helps regulate your body’s internal clock and can improve sleep quality.
  • Personalize your routine: There’s no ‘one size fits all’ routine. Tailor your routine to suit your needs and preferences. Whether that’s meditation, a vigorous workout, visualizing your goals, or a combination of all, the choice is yours.
  • Focus on positivity: Include affirmations or gratitude reflections in your routine to cultivate a positive mindset. Remember, a better day starts with a cheerful you.

Creating a morning routine that works doesn’t happen overnight. It requires patience, commitment, and constant re-evaluation. But the payoff is an enhanced sense of control, increased productivity, and better health – making it one of the best ways to start the New Year right.

Sample morning routine

To help you get started, here’s a sample morning routine you might consider:

Time Activity
6:30 am Wake up and hydrate
6:40 am 10-minute meditation
7:00 am Light workout (Yoga, Stretching or Jogging)
7:30 am Healthy breakfast and day planning

Remember, this is just a suggestion, and it’s crucial to adapt the routine to your unique needs, preferences, and lifestyle. The objective is to design a morning routine that you look forward to, not one that feels like a chore.

“The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.” – Mike Murdock

So there it is; start your New Year off with a powerful morning routine and set the stage for a productive, fulfilling, and successful year. It all starts with a commitment to making a change. Are you ready?

start the new year right

Start the New Year Right by Adopting Healthy Habits

Adopting healthy habits often seems like daunting task, but with the right direction and some perseverance, you can cultivate these habits and lay a strong foundation for your New Year. Each habit you adopt gradually refines your lifestyle, creating a positive cycle that fuels your success throughout the year. So, how should you start? Here is a guide:

  1. Set achievable habits: Instead of focusing on grand and often unreachable goals, aim for smaller, more achievable habits. For instance, if improving your health is a goal, start by adding more vegetables to your diet or taking a 15-minute walk every day.
  2. Consistency is key: Maintaining consistency is more valuable than the occasional intensive effort. Set a schedule for your new habits and stick to it. Progress might be slow, but it is sure.
  3. Adapt and adjust: Don’t be discouraged if a habit doesn’t stick right away, or if it becomes overwhelming. It’s okay to adapt and adjust based on your experience. Remember, flexibility can be your ally.

Moving on, let’s look at some key areas where adopting healthy habits can make a significant impact on your life.

Area Healthy Habit Examples
Physical Health Regular exercise, balanced diet, adequate sleep
Mental Health Meditation, yoga, engaging in hobbies
Relationships Open communication, regular check-ins with loved ones, expressing gratitude
Financial Health Monthly budgeting, regular savings, investing wisely

Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day!

It’s absolutely normal if progress seems slow. The key is to start small and stay consistent. And while it is important to be disciplined, don’t forget to be kind to yourself in the process. Every step you take towards adopting just one healthy habit is a victory worth celebrating.

Adopting healthy habits is an ongoing journey, rather than a destination. It is all about learning and growing. As the stunning sunrise heralds a brand new year, it also brings with it the promise of countless opportunities for healthy changes. Harness those opportunities and make this New Year a productive odyssey filled with achievements and happiness.

Master the Art of Time Management: A Crucial Step for Success

Time, as it’s often said, waits for no one. It is an equal-opportunity resource; each of us, no matter who we are or what we do, gets the same 24 hours in a day.

When the new year begins, we are handed a brand new set of 365 days. How we use each of these days can directly impact the success of our goals for the year. That’s where mastering time management comes into play.

Time management isn’t about squeezing as many tasks into your day as possible. It’s about simplifying how you work, doing things faster, and relieving stress. It enables you to take control of your life rather than following the flow of others. As you achieve more each day, make more sound decisions, and feel more in control, people notice.

“Time management is not a peripheral activity or skill. It is the core skill upon which everything else in life depends.” – Brian Tracy

Let’s consider some effective ways to master the art of time management:

  1. Start Your Day with a To-Do List: The simple act of writing down your tasks for the day helps you focus.
  2. Prioritize Your Tasks: Not every task holds the same level of significance. Prioritize your tasks based on their relevance and deadline.
  3. Set Realistic Goals and Deadlines: Setting realistic goals within your timeline allows for more accurate planning and less stress—does this sound familiar?
  4. Quit Multitasking: Doing many tasks simultaneously often results in decreased productivity. Focus on one task at a time to improve accuracy and efficiency.
  5. Take Regular Breaks: Taking regular breaks between tasks can help increase productivity and creative thinking.

Everyone has the same amount of time in a day, but some people can accomplish many times more than others. This achievement is not due to superhuman abilities, but a question of how they manage their time.

So, as the new year approaches, pledge to master the art of time management. It’s a powerful step forward in starting the year off right and set you on a path of success.

It’s Not Enough to START the New Year Right, You Must Also Stay Motivated

Indeed, I understand that keeping the New Year’s momentum going can sometimes be a challenge. You start the year off with high energy, vibrant goals, and a clear vision of what you want to achieve. However, as weeks and months pass, your focus might start to dwindle, and the motivation begins to wane. So here are a few tactics that can turn things around for you.

First, maintaining motivation is all about striking a balance and seizing the precious moments of personal time you have. There’s nothing like celebrating small wins; it can electrify your spirit, boost your confidence and provide the motivation to aim for the next target.

  • Quick Walks: Taking short walks can uplift your mood. The fresh air can help clear your mind, providing a new perspective on your goals.
  • Active Breaks: Incorporating short workouts or quick stretches into your break schedule can keep you energized and focussed throughout the day. Plus, exercise is known to boost serotonin, the feel-good hormone that keeps you happy and motivated.
  • Self-Congratulation: Treat yourself to something nice when you achieve a smaller target on the way to your big goal. This not only gives you something to look forward to but can also serve as a reminder of your progress.

If you think of your life as a symphony, this next strategy could be the perfect melody line. Ever thought of embracing the power of Collaborative Goals? We often forget the electrifying power of collective energy towards achieving a common goal. Be it a workout buddy, a study group, or a business partner; shared goals can motivate you to keep pushing even when your energy levels are low. It creates a space of accountability and encouragement, lightening the challenges along the way.

Another invaluable technique in your motivation arsenal is the Art of Visualization. When you visualize your goals and the process of achieving them, your subconscious begins to work towards this reality, making it easier to remain motivated.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.” – Albert Einstein

Lastly, don’t forget to be patient. Keep your eye on the long-term goal, and remember that progress, no matter how small, is still progress. Stay motivated, stay on track, and welcome the New Year with a resilient spirit and heart full of hope. Encourage yourself to pursue your dreams, and remember, nothing worthwhile was ever achieved without effort and persistence.

start the new year right

Tracking Your Progress: Making Your New Year Goals Tangible

Every goal, no matter how colossal or minuscule, becomes manageable when you break it down into measurable steps. Recognizing and tracking your progress is an essential strategy that helps turn your New Year’s resolutions from mere wishes to tangible realities. But where should you start in tracking your progress? How do you decide what to measure and what not to?

Start by Identifying Trackable Elements

First off, think about what success looks like for your goal. Then, consider which elements of that success you can measure. If your New Year’s resolution is to improve your fitness, measurable elements could be minutes spent exercising, calories burned, or improvements in weight, body fat percentage, or overall general wellness.

Choose a Tracking Method That Makes Sense For You

Once you’ve identified what to track, decide on a system for tracking and recording your progress. This could be as low-tech as a paper journal, or as high-tech as a dedicated app or tool. The critical point is that your method fits into your daily life naturally, increasing the chances that you’ll stick with it throughout the year.

Making Improvements Along The Way

It’s also important to note that tracking isn’t just about recording- it’s about evaluating and adapting. Every so often, take some time to reflect on your progress, see what’s working and what’s not, and make adjustments accordingly. Remember, it’s a marathon, not a sprint—be patient and kind to yourself along the way.

Last but not least, don’t forget to celebrate your wins—both big and small. Rewarding yourself for the progress you’ve made along the way can keep your motivation high and your eye on the prize!

In conclusion, tracking your progress can be a powerful tool in making your New Year’s resolutions stick. So start early, stay consistent, and watch your progress soar!

Overcoming Obstacles: Strategies to Break through New Year Resolution Barriers

As we march into the New Year, it’s only natural that we’ll face challenges and encounters with obstacles. When these barriers arise, don’t allow them to knock you off course. Instead, use practical strategies to overcome, learning and growing as a result.

Strategy 1. Create Flexible Plans

While it’s wonderful to have a solid plan, it’s equally important to accept that life is unpredictable. Establish your goals with room for flexibility. If something doesn’t go as planned, don’t see it as a failure. Instead, adapt your plan and continue moving forward.

Strategy 2. Reframe Your Thinking

Many obstacles are merely a matter of perception. The way you frame problems can directly influence how you cope with them. Instead of seeing obstacles as a negative, view them as opportunities to learn, grow, and improve.

Strategy 3. Develop a Support Network

Who said you have to do everything alone? Develop a network of friends, family, or likeminded individuals who can offer encouragement, advice, and support. This kind of social reinforcement can be a powerful motivator and can provide necessary perspectives or solutions when obstacles emerge.

Remember, it’s not about perfection; it’s about progress. Each day, each week, each month brings new opportunities to move closer to your goals. Stay positive, focused, and ready to overcome any barriers you may face.

Strategy 4. Practice Self-Care

Your physical and mental health should always be a top priority. Taking care of yourself will give you the energy and clarity you need to face any challenges that come your way. This could involve daily physical exercise, healthy eating habits, mindfulness techniques, or simply ensuring you get enough rest.

Strategy 5. Be Patient

Real change and overcoming big obstacles doesn’t happen overnight. Give yourself the grace of patience. Understand that progress might be slower than anticipated, but keep going. Every small step forward is a victory worth celebrating.

All these strategies work symbiotically to help you navigate and overcome obstacles. The New Year will certainly serve up challenges, but with these strategies in your toolkit, you have everything you need to conquer them and flourish.

Step into Success: Create the Environment to Start the New Year Right

Crafting a conducive environment is one of the key steps in steering your year towards success. A winning environment not only fosters your determination and endurance but also provides an optimal setting for developing and refining your skills towards accomplishing your New Year’s resolutions.

To start with, evaluate your surroundings. Your environment plays an unmatched role in shaping your behaviours, habits and attitudes. Whether it’s your home, workplace or any other place where you spend a significant amount of your time, ensure that it supports your purpose.

  • At home, create a peaceful and inspiring setting to start your day right. Designate a corner for meditation or daily planning. Install motivational posters or notes to keep your goals in sight.
  • At work, organize your workspace to enhance productivity. A clutter-free space promotes focus and efficiency, while personalized elements can boost your mood and creativity.

Next, identify the key influencers in your life. They could be family, friends, colleagues, or mentors. These are the people whose words and actions can either fuel or derail your new year’s journey. Aim to foster relations that are positive, supportive, and growth-oriented while minimizing interactions that are unproductive or negative.

Supplement your environment with a good learning ecosystem. Engage with stimulating materials and sources that encourage personal and professional development. Enroll in courses, read insightful books, listen to podcasts or engage in networking events. This will not only keep you informed and abreast with the latest trends but also keep you motivated along your journey.

Lastly, embrace the power of positive reinforcement. Celebrate every progress, no matter how small, because progress is progress. This will leverage your motivation and help you stay on track.

Remember, creating a winning environment is iterative. It allows you to fine-tune your surroundings and relationships as per your evolving needs and goals. Step into this new year with a resolution to be in control of your environment and, thus, your success.

Visualize Your Victory: The Role of Positive Imagery in Achieving Goals

Visualizing your victory is a potent tool in your New Year goals blueprint. This mental technique involves repeatedly imagining the successful completion of your goal. By consistently visualizing the desired outcome, you can prepare your mind and even your body to achieve it.

For instance, if your goal is to run a marathon, visualize yourself crossing the finish line triumphantly, amidst cheers and applause. You’ll likely find that these images embolden you in your endeavor and make your goal feel more achievable.

Remember, visualization is not about hoping or wishing. It’s about mentally preparing for success. It’s a way of ‘pre-experiencing’ the victory, and this can have quite a profound impact on your motivation and determination.

Let’s take a deeper dive into some notable benefits of visualization, along with straightforward ways to incorporate it into your routine as you head into the New Year.

Benefits of Visualization

  • Motivation Boost: Regularly visualizing success can spark and sustain your motivation, making your goals seem more tangible and within reach.
  • Increased Confidence: Visualization allows you to see yourself successfully overcoming hurdles and challenges, boosting your self-confidence and self-belief.
  • Improved Focus: Visualization techniques can enhance your ability to focus on your goal, blocking out distractions that can derail your efforts.
  • Ability to Cope with Setbacks: With positive visualization, you can mentally rehearse overcoming obstacles, which can significantly improve your ability to cope with real-life setbacks.

How to Incorporate Visualization in your Routine

To truly harness the power of visualization, incorporate it into your daily routine. Here’s how:

  1. Set a Regular Time: Find a quiet moment in your day, perhaps first thing in the morning or right before bed. Dedicate this time to your visual imagery practice.
  2. Detail your Imagery: When visualizing, focus on the specifics. Hear the sounds, feel the emotions and visualize the actions you’re taking. The more detailed the imagery, the more powerful the impact.
  3. Use Positive Affirmations: Accompany your visualization with positive affirmations. Reiterate your capability and commitment to achieve your goals.
  4. Repeat the Visualization: Consistency is key. Just as physical practice enhances skills over time, so does your mental rehearsal. Make it a habitual part of your routine.

So, as we head into the New Year, remember that visualization is not just daydreaming. Think of it as your mental rehearsal for success. Embrace it, trust it and watch as you flourish with an energized motivation and a firm action plan.

Say Yes to No: The Power of Rejection as You Start the New Year Right

Starting the new year with gusto is commendable, but maintaining that fiery resolve all year long can be a daunting task. A critical yet often overlooked strategy for achieving your New Year’s resolutions is learning to say “no”. Consider this an exercise in setting boundaries and prioritizing your obligations wisely. Here’s how this potent, two-letter word can transform your journey in the upcoming year.

Understanding the Power of “No”

Each of us has only 24 hours in a day, and precious few of those are yours alone. Constantly saying “yes” to others can drain your time and energy, leaving you depleted and unable to pursue your own goals. By learning to say “no”, you can better manage your resources and dedicate them to what truly matters: your own personal growth and achievement.

“The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.” ― Warren Buffett

Thus, embracing the power of “no” allows you to focus your resources on the vital few things that can make the biggest impact on your life. It’s an exercise in setting priorities, focusing solely on what aligns with your New Year’s resolutions. Remember, “No.” is a complete sentence.

The Art of Saying “No”

While the concept of saying “no” seems straightforward, it can be challenging to put into practice. Here are key tips to help you master the art of saying “no”, enabling you to safeguard your time, preserve your energy, and stay focused on your New Year’s resolutions:

  1. Recognize your priorities: Knowing what’s most important to you is the first step to decision-making. Ensure your “yes” aligns with your key priorities, and feel empowered to say “no” to anything that doesn’t.
  2. Be assertive, yet respectful: Saying ‘no’ doesn’t mean you have to be rude. Be assertive yet respectful in your response.
  3. Eliminate guilt: Remember, saying “no” is about preserving your energy for what truly matters; release any guilt associated with prioritizing your needs.
  4. Take time to think: If you’re unsure, consider asking for time to think before responding. This way, you avoid hasty decisions that you may later regret.

By mastering the art of tactfully saying “no”, you empower yourself to remain focused on your goals, eventually paving the way for a successful New Year.

Leap of Faith: Overcoming Fear and Embracing Change

Starting a New Year comes with its share of excitement and anticipation – a fresh start with endless possibilities. However, inevitably, it also means facing a certain amount of fear and apprehension. This fear can stem from various sources: the uncertainty of the future, the pressure to achieve set resolutions, the worry of falling back into old habits, or even the fear of trying something completely new. The key to overcoming these fears is to consider them not as obstacles but stepping stones towards embracing change and creating new opportunities. And that involves a leap of faith.

Embracing change is an integral part of any self-growth journey and is especially important when starting a new year. Each New Year presents you with a chance to reinvent yourself, to step out of your comfort zone and explore new horizons. Embracing change means being open to new experiences, adapting to different scenarios, and making the most of ensuing opportunities.

Is it scary? Sure, it can be. But as Nelson Mandela once said, “I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” This essentially sums up the significance of a ‘leap of faith’ in overcoming fear and embracing change.

Here are three key strategies to help you take that brave leap forward:

  1. Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness involves staying completely grounded in the present moment, acknowledging your fears but not letting them control your actions. And there are various ways to cultivate mindfulness, such as meditation, deep breathing, or guided imagery.
  2. Build self-confidence: Reinforce your capabilities and celebrate your achievements, no matter how small. This uplifts your spirit, boosts your self-confidence, and equips you with the courage to face fears and embrace change.
  3. Surround yourself with positivity: Positive influences in the form of friends, books, or motivational videos can work wonders for your mindset. They can rekindle your spirit, inspire you to push boundaries, and make that leap of faith a little bit easier to take.

Remember, each New Year brings a wealth of opportunities and possibilities. All you need to do is take a deep breath and leap forward with an open heart and an open mind. Use this New Year to face your fears, embrace change, and script a spectacular story of personal growth.

Good luck, and here’s to a year of courage and positive change!

Living Large: Expanding Your Comfort Zone as You Start the New Year Right

As we bid farewell to one year and welcome the next, it’s the perfect time to step out of your comfort zone. That imaginary circle of safety you’ve built around yourself? It’s high time we expanded it. Living large is all about embracing the unfamiliar and the unexpected. It’s about daring to do things differently, to rise above the everyday, and to truly realize your potential.

Why is it important, you may ask? Well, pushing your boundaries serves as a catalyst for personal growth. It stimulates creativity, resilience, and can lead to significant accomplishments. What a marvellous way to begin a fresh year, wouldn’t you agree?

Let’s explore a few ways to expand your comfort zone and embrace the opportunities that the new year brings:

  • Tackle Something New: Pick up a new hobby, learn a new language, or even switch up your fitness routine. Trying new things can be exhilarating and, quite often, an exciting route to self-improvement.
  • Face A Fear: Fear is natural, but don’t let it limit you. Whether it’s a fear of public speaking or adventure sports, gently challenge yourself to confront these fears piece by piece.
  • Learn From Others: Surround yourself with people who inspire you. Their unique perspectives and experiences can nudge you towards new adventures and insights.
  • Adopt A Growth Mindset: Instead of seeing challenges as obstacles, view them as stepping stones to development. Nourish a mentality that thrives on learning, not on perfection.

Remember, the aim is not to make yourself uncomfortable, but to broaden the spectrum of what feels possible. So, as the New Year dawns, let the spirit of courage guide you towards living large. Carry this feeling with you throughout the year, and watch as you surpass what you thought were your limits.

Exciting, isn’t it? As author Neale Donald Walsch says,

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” So why not take the leap this New Year?

That’s a Wrap! Now You Know How to Start the New Year Right!

It’s time to put a ribbon on what you’ve learned. You now have the blueprint to kick start the New Year with success, gusto, and determination. From setting practical, meaningful goals, maintaining a positive mindset, to managing your time efficiently and tracking your progress, we’ve covered all the bases. But remember, knowledge is only the first step. Now it’s time for implementation!

Let’s revisit a few key points:

  1. Set a strong foundation: Your journey into the New Year should begin with setting well-defined, achievable goals. Remember, your goals should be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
  2. Nurture Positivity: Bolstering a positive mindset allows you to face challenges head-on and keep your focus on the endgame, no matter how big the hurdles seem.
  3. Manage time wisely: Wield the power of time management to ensure you’re utilizing every precious minute of your day effectively.
  4. Monitor progress: Regularly keeping tabs on your progress will allow you to stay motivated, make necessary tweaks, and, most importantly, celebrate the little milestones along the way.

Above all, remember: your journey into the New Year is unique. No two paths are the same, and comparisons will only lead to unnecessary roadblocks. So, embrace your journey, your speed, and your accomplishments. Your New Year success story is yours to write and yours to tell.

As you prepare to make this New Year your year, do not forget the unyielding power of a can-do attitude, visualize your success frequently and say ‘no’ when necessary. Above all, seize the day, take a leap of faith, step out of your comfort zone and embrace change.

Put these strategies into action, and there will be no stopping you from starting the New Year off right and making progress towards your personal and professional aspirations. The turning of a new year always brings a fresh start; it’s what you do with that start that counts. Remember, every step forward, no matter how small, is a step closer to your goals.

You are capable. You are powerful. You have everything you need to make this New Year your best one yet. Believe in yourself, stay committed, and watch as you transform your dreams into reality.

Now, go shine. Here’s to a successful journey into the New Year!

How to End the Relationship with Style and Grace

How to End the Relationship with Style and Grace

Sometimes, you must face the inevitable point when it’s time to end the relationship you’d hoped would be your last.

You went into this relationship thinking he was the one, but then the attraction faded, and lust didn’t turn into love as you’d hoped. After two to three years, you see him for who he really is and it’s not a perfect match after all.

Sometimes, it’s not a lack of attraction or chemistry, but a misalignment of goals, cheating, or simply falling out of love. Regardless of the reason, there’s a right and wrong way to end the relationship and move on in a healthy way.

You owe it to one another, and to yourselves to end the relationship the right way. Before we go there, however, allow me to share a few reasons why a relationship should end.

end the relationship

Why You Should End the Relationship

You Have No Emotional Connection

When you have an emotional connection with your partner, you feel safe sharing your vulnerability with him. You can easily discuss anything, or mostly anything with him because he’s your emotional rock. He will be there to pick up the pieces. He’ll hold you up when you feel like falling down. You both provide strength for each other.

But if the spark disappears, this connection often goes with it.

The two of you engaged in friendly banter and enjoyed one another’s company, but now, even that feels strained. This is that emotional connection sizzling away. You no longer engage in meaningful conversation about anything. Being alone together just feels hard and is full of empty silence, fidgeting, and finally empty conversation to fill the void.

End the Relationship When You Don’t Feel Sexually Attracted

Sexual attraction can vary in a relationship, depending on what else is going on in your life. It’s natural, but if you find it difficult to come out of a low attraction phase, it might be a sign that things aren’t working anymore, but it’s not definitive.

Think back to when the two of you first had sex. How does that memory make you feel today? If these memories make you smile and have fond memories, all may not be lost. You’re probably still sexually attracted to him but there’s something else going on.

Then again, if you’re just not attracted to him anymore, it’s probably time to end the relationship and move on. When there’s no sexual interest between you, it’s a sign that the relationship is unhealthy and headed toward demise.

Someone Else Holds Your Interest

While you’re with him now, your heart flutters over someone else, or at least the idea of someone else. Maybe it’s a guy you’ve seen and briefly chatted with at the gym, a coworker, or a friend of a friend. Regardless of who it is, it’s not your current partner.

It’s okay to fantasize about other men, as long as it doesn’t steal your attention and affection for your partner. Fantasies become problematic when they invade that relationship space. When you’re in bed with your guy, he should be the one you’re thinking of, so if he isn’t, you know it’s time.

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End the Relationship When You’re Being Asked to Change Who You Are

When someone loves you, they love you for who you are right now. He accepts your flaws, and probably even loves you for them. He doesn’t even see the nose you wish you’d had redone years ago. No. I take that back, he sees it and can’t imagine why you’d want to change it.

But when someone berates you into getting into better shape or finding a better job, it’s time to consider whether this is right for you.

Asking someone to use less salt when they cook or to avoid eating the peanuts that will surely send you to the ER is okay. That isn’t changing who you are fundamentally.

But when someone tells you that you’re not good enough for them the way you are, that’s on them. If you want to lose twenty pounds, go for it, but do it because you want to do it to improve your health or burn off stress.

He’s Supportive When Things are Good

Tanya and Brent had been together for several years. They’d recently purchased a house together and seemed to be a great couple. Then, Tanya got a new boss at work and he was a tyrant. On top of his poor managerial skills, he was new to the company and many of the things he railed at Tanya about weren’t correct.

Tanya came home from work stressed to the max. She wanted a hot bath, a margarita, and some candles so she could decompress. She expected that Brent would be her rock.

Instead, Brent sought out someone new. Not two days before, they appeared to everyone to be a happy, loving couple. If they arrived somewhere separately, he followed her home, pumped gas for her, and was there for her, but as soon as the sh*t came down, he sought out a new relationship.

Your guy should be supportive of you when things are good and when they’re bad. If you hit a rough patch in your life, a loving partner wants to help in whatever way he can. If it’s bringing you a new margarita while you cry in the bathtub, so be it. He’s there with a new salted glass full of margarita.

When he’s only there to share the good times but disappears or checks out when things are at a low point, it’s time to consider ending things.

You May Need to End the Relationship When Trust is Broken

I say you may need to end the relationship because it is possible for a couple to overcome a loss of trust, often caused by an affair. The catch is that you must both agree to do some couples therapy to get there. Only a professional can guide you through rebuilding your trust as nobody else can.

Trust is essential to any healthy relationship and when it’s gone, everything else fades away with it. You feel unloved, unsupported, unheard, unnoticed, and many other things.

Trust isn’t just broken with affairs. It’s also broken when promises aren’t kept. He promised to move closer in six months, but nine months have passed, and he isn’t even trying to do what needs to be done so he can make that move.

He promised to attend your big family event but bailed again at the last minute.

Maybe he promised to take you on a big vacation or to move in with you, but delay after delay keeps it from happening.

You can only make and break so many promises before all trust is broken.

End the Relationship When He Wiggles Out of Every One of Your Family Commitments

Your guy doesn’t have to like your sister to attend her birthday party. He’s there for you, not her. He’s there to be your support system and your friend.

If your friends and family question the mere existence of your guy, you may have a problem. Hanging out with one another’s friends and family is part of being in a relationship. It doesn’t matter if his mother always compares you to his other girlfriends, tough it out and be there for him. Of course, in that instance, you have every right to ask him to talk to her, but that’s a different problem.

The point is that when you’re a couple, you suffer through friend and family events for the greater good of your relationship.

The caveat is that this is reciprocal. If you want him to come to your stuff, you need to go to his too.

You Can’t Express Your Needs without Negative Fallout

You should never feel guilty for needing something, nor should you be berated for it or told you’re crazy. Everyone has their moments when, no matter what it is, you have a need to be met.

If we go back to Tanya and Brent for a moment, Tanya needed support. She didn’t want anything from Brent other than for him to be there with another margarita when she needed it, to turn on the hot water again, or to bring in new candles when the old ones burned out. She had a need to feel heard, loved, and supported. Instead, he found someone who wasn’t going through a difficult time in her life.

When you’re there for someone, you’re there. He shouldn’t be telling you how dumb it is for you to want to be there for your mother as she goes through something difficult. He should be there to support you when you find out your childhood dog died.

But sometimes, people are so wrapped up in their own stuff that they can’t see the needs of others. If it’s temporary, fine, but if it’s an ongoing problem, it’s probably time to end the relationship.

end the relationship

End the Relationship if He’s Hiding You

A man who won’t take you to meet his friends and family after a reasonable amount of time together is a man who’s hiding something from you.

When a guy is in love, he wants to show her off to the important people in his life, like his mother, or a favorite sister or friend. He wants his buddies to meet you because he’s proud to have you in his life.

He isn’t afraid to post photos of you together on social media, or even to take them with his phone.

A man who avoids introducing you to important people may be having an affair with you as the extra in his drama. This is a no-win situation for you because even if he eventually leaves that other relationship, you’ll be faced with a natural trust issue. If he did this to someone else with you, what’s to keep him from doing the same to you?

You Aren’t You Around Him

The best thing you can do for any relationship is to be yourself right from the beginning, but most of us aren’t. In my book, The Social Tigress, there’s a chapter on branding yourself and while this may sound harsh, we all do it.

When you’re single and you go out with your girlfriends, you pay very close attention to what you wear, how your hair is styled, and what you do with your makeup. You’re marketing yourself even if you don’t realize it.

If you create an online profile on a dating site or app, you’re marketing yourself.

In these marketing efforts, we all put our best foot forward. Only the best photos of you go on the profile, right? Of course.

But once you meet someone, you need to allow the real you to shine through. Sure, he may have initially been attracted to how you look, but men aren’t so superficial that they only go for looks. That might get him to say “Hello”, but it doesn’t get to eventually saying, “Goodnight.”

The problem comes into play when you can’t be yourself, either because he tries to stifle who you are or because you’ve shown him such a different version of yourself, and stuck to it, that now you can’t be the real you for fear of losing him.

In any case, he isn’t in love with you, he’s in love with the version of you that either he wants or you’re showing him, not the real you.

End the Relationship When You Both Talk About a Hypothetical Better Time Ahead

Your relationship shouldn’t be about waiting for the good times to come. You shouldn’t be waiting for the relationship to get better when some future milestone is hit.

He’ll appreciate me more once I can cook better.

We’ll have a better connection when we live together.

He’ll be more open with his feelings when we’ve been together for another six months.

You’re waiting for him to change, but he is who he is and there isn’t a thing you can do about it. Yes, people can change, but that doesn’t mean they want or intend to.

Instead of waiting for your relationship to be ideal in the future, look at what you have now. Can you live with things the way they are? If he’s not meeting your needs now, that perceived milestone in the future might not change a thing.

Your Goals are Different

A couple who wants to be together for the long haul should have shared goals. Not every goal should be shared, but the big ones are important.

For example, if he wants to travel the world but you want to advance your career, your goals are misaligned in such a way that it won’t work unless you negotiate the timing. You may agree to travel the world with him, but at a slower pace than he had in mind. If he’s agreeable, it might work, but if he wants to take two years off before making his big career move and you don’t, it may be time to end the relationship.

Sharing goals brings more intimacy to your relationship. When you’re doing things together, you’re developing memories and drawing nearer to one another. Intimacy isn’t just about sex, it’s about those shared moments that you’ll always remember.

end the relationship

How to End the Relationship

Now that you know some reasons for ending the relationship, let’s examine how you can end the relationship with style and respect.

Prepare Ahead of Time

Plan what you’ll say before you meet up with your guy. Don’t just decide to wing it. I know it’s a nervous time, but you’ll be less nervous if you practice a bit. Get a friend to help or practice in front of a mirror. Get your speech down and be prepared for his reaction.

Understand at the same time, however, that you cannot control his reaction. Trying to word things in a way that won’t upset him is futile. All you can do is remember to be kind, not to dump all the blame on him, and to be respectful of his need to speak.

End The Relationship Face-to-Face

Of course, it’s more comfortable to send a text or email telling him it’s over, but this is the chicken sh*t way out. Please don’t do this to anyone. He has time and emotions tied to the relationship too, and he deserves for the end to be a one-on-one conversation.

The exception to this rule is if there is physical abuse involved. In that instant, you’re running, not conversing. Otherwise, have enough respect for what the two of you shared to end it in person.

Choose the Right Place

Don’t end your relationship at your place or his but choose somewhere comfortable for both of you. It might be someplace public but somewhat secluded, like a park or a cozy coffee shop.

If you’re worried about him blowing his stack, in public is definitely a good idea, but if you think he’ll be calm about it, give him the courtesy of privacy when you end it.

End the Relationship and Be Respectful

One person is never the only responsible party in a breakup. You both have your roles. So, be respectful of him, and don’t dump this all on him. Own your part too and make sure not to make it a bashing session.

Respect also means being honest. Again, this doesn’t mean reciting every single thing he did to upset you but don’t lie either. Be general.

“Gee Brad, I think we just grew apart.” Or “You know, Jim, I think we just want different things now.”

This way, you’re ending it, but you’re not dumping on him, which would be unfair.

Make it a Clean Break

When you see he’s upset, you might try to mitigate that with some soothers like, “But we can still be friends” or “Let’s just see if time apart helps.”

If you don’t see a future for the two of you, this is unfair. I know you’re trying to make him feel better, but he’s still going to get hurt. It’ll just take longer.

It’s okay to be friends after a breakup but give him time to process the breakup first. Let him find his own way out of the situation and then reach back out, maybe in a few months.

End the Relationship but Avoid Arguing

Since you know this is coming and he probably doesn’t, he may be defensive at first and this can often lead to an argument. He may be angry and want to argue with you out of spite, or he’ll be blindsided and want to argue that you shouldn’t break up.

Either way, once your conversation devolves into an argument, it’s time to go. You have nothing to gain and everything to lose by arguing with him.

You don’t need to be mean about it, but simply tell him you think it’s time for you to go, “Jim, I’d like to leave us on a happy note, so I’m going to leave before we start saying things we’ll regret.”

He may try to continue the argument by phone, text, or email. In that case, block him for a while, at least until his anger subsides. It’s very difficult to have an argument if you’re the only one arguing.

He’ll soon settle down and it’ll end.

Don’t Let Him Talk You Out of It

If he didn’t see it coming and is still in love with you, he may try to talk you into staying. If you have good reasons for leaving, don’t allow this to happen.

You’ll come to the same ending eventually and the hurt will be that much deeper.

It’s a normal reaction for the other person to beg you to stay. He’ll make promises like:

  • I’ll be better about pitching in around the house
  • If I try, I know I can stop belittling you around your friends and family
  • I know I can be a little cranky, but I’ll work on it, I promise

If he wants to make those changes, great, but let him work on those things by himself. If you did have something before and you aren’t interested in anyone else, he may indeed come to you in a few months a new and better man.

But those types of changes are best done when you’re single.

End the Relationship but Be Empathetic

While breaking up might be a relief to you, he may be deeply saddened. Try not to glory in your happiness while he’s down. If you’re happy, fine, but be empathetic to what he’s feeling at that moment.

It’s never nice to dismiss or ignore someone’s feelings, even if you don’t want to date him anymore. You can soften the blow by reminding him of something good like, “Before I met you, I didn’t even know how to boil pasta. You taught me so much and I’m grateful.”

Final Words on How to End the Relationship with Style and Grace

Even though you’re the one ending it, your body will have a physiological and emotional response. Your mind is addicted to being in love, so it’ll play tricks on you to try to get you back out there faster than you should be.

Give yourself time to grieve the relationship and time to heal. Relationships change who you are. You learn new things, but you may give up some things too, like a hobby you enjoyed or participating in a sport you enjoy.

Sometimes, you even give up friendships in lieu of more time with your boyfriend. It’s time to revive all of those things and rejoin life. Doing so will help you find who you are again, and it will also help you through the grieving process.

I have a book that explains the nine stages of grieving a relationship, whether you initiated the breakup or not. It also helps you prepare yourself for a new relationship. It’s linked just below!

When you end the relationship in a classy way, you have no regrets and you leave your ex-partner with a better chance of moving forward in a healthy way too.

If you're ready to move on from this relationship, you're ready for He's Gone, Now What? This book walks you through the many aspects of dealing with a breakup, even if you're the one who initiated the breakup. Regardless of who started it, as they say, your body becomes addicted to the chemicals associated with being in love. The withdrawal process is as daunting as the withdrawal from cocaine.

You'll also learn about the stages of grieving a relationship and how to begin moving forward. You'll walk through the steps of preparing yourself for dating again and gain an understanding of how you can do so in a healthy, happy relationship.

You can learn more about the book here or you can purchase it by clicking one of the buttons below.

How to Stop Being Jealous in a Relationship

How to Stop Being Jealous in a Relationship

Some jealousy in a relationship is normal, but when it becomes excessive, it’s time to learn how to stop being jealous in a relationship.

Jealous feelings can range anywhere from a mild feeling of jealousy to total rage and humiliation. There is no limit to how old you can be to experience jealousy, and men and women are both susceptible.

Most of the time, we feel jealous when a relationship is threatened, and that can mean friendships as well as romantic relationships and relationships with our families.

The threat can be real but is sometimes just our imagination and anxiety running amok. Before I provide you with tips on how to stop being jealous in a relationship, let’s uncover why you feel jealous.

Why do You Feel Jealous?

Jealousy is an emotion that you probably wish would just go away, but it’s an emotion that we can work with, and it’s also a signal of underlying problems.

Who Gets More Jealous? Men or Women?

Some believe men get jealous more easily, but both sexes are capable of feeling jealousy at the same level, although men and women are jealous in different ways.

Men fear that their romantic partner will have an affair, so they’re more dialed into jealousy over sexual infidelity.

For women, the fear is of emotional infidelity. They fear their guy will fall in love with someone else.

Traits Behind Jealousy

Many of the reasons behind jealousy have nothing to do with your partner, even though I get that it would be nice to blame this on him.

Your jealous feelings come from one or more of these places:

  • Low self-esteem
  • Anxiety or emotional instability
  • Feeling insecure and possessive
  • Being too dependent on your partner
  • Feeling that you aren’t good enough for him
  • A fear that your partner will leave you or won’t love you enough

These factors are all about your insecurity, not something he is doing.

how to stop being jealous in a relationship

How to Stop Being Jealous in a Relationship

Understand that Some Jealousy is Normal

This isn’t to say that how you react to feeling jealousy is normal, but that the feeling itself is a normal human emotion.

You have the ability to control how you react to your jealous feelings, but how well you respond depends on why you feel jealous and how extreme those feelings are.

How to Stop Being Jealous in a Relationship: Recognize the Anxiety

Many times, jealousy stems from imagining your partner’s future without you in it. You see him smile at a waitress and all of a sudden, your imagination stirs visuals of the two of them together.

Oh my gosh! He loves her?!?!?!?

Anxiety is our mind running ahead of life, creating scenarios for which we have no proof, then convincing you that it’s true.

We get anxious over all sorts of things. One of my favorite examples is from when I was younger. It was the first time I was called for jury duty and I was driving to the courthouse to report. My mind was racing – what if I’m late? What if I’m picked to sit for a terrible crime? What if…what if…what if…

Finally, I realized I was having some anxiety and wasn’t focusing very well on driving, so I stopped my thoughts and began taking deep breaths.

When you’re anxious, your heart rate picks up and your blood pressure increases because your fight or flight mechanism has kicked in. To mitigate the chemicals released during fight or flight, slow your breathing. This is an instant signal to your brain that everything is okay.

Since I was driving, that was about the only tool available to me, other than to tell myself that I was just feeling anxious, and that it was time to stop.

If you recognize that your mind is just running away with you, stop what you’re thinking and bring yourself back to reality. Realize that the truth isn’t what you were just thinking.

Dip Into a Mindful Moment

Mindfulness is about becoming present in the current moment. This is a follow-on to the anxiety tool you just read.

Bring yourself back to the here and now. Don’t ignore the jealous feelings but imagine them as leaves floating down a stream. They float up to you, they hang out for a second or two, then they float away. While you don’t always realize it, feelings do this anyway, but we can hold onto them too long if we fixate on them.

Stuffing them down and not acknowledging them doesn’t work either because they just keep growing, like a balloon you’re blowing up – eventually, something will pop.

Challenge Your Own Negativity

People often believe feelings or emotions just appear out of nowhere, blindsiding you, but this isn’t usually the case.

The things we feel and the emotions we have are more often a result of ongoing thoughts, which usually are based on how we feel about ourselves.

For example, if you don’t believe yourself to be physically attractive, you will feel anxious over any women he comes in contact with and perceive to be prettier than you.

If you don’t believe you’re enough to keep your guy long-term, any woman who approaches might feel threatening.

Instead of believing these thoughts, fact-check them. Has he told you he thinks you’re ugly? I’m going to guess he has not because if he didn’t find you to be attractive, he wouldn’t be with you now. This is your own insecurity, not something he’s told you.

Many of our beliefs are what is called self-limiting. We believe many wrong things about ourselves, but those thoughts can almost always be proven wrong.

how to stop being jealous in a relationship

How to Stop Being Jealous in a Relationship: Get Real

Sometimes, expectations are too high to be met, ever.

There is no such thing as a perfect person or a perfect relationship. Naturally, your eye wanders when you see a handsome man, just like your boyfriend or husband’s eye may wander.

A wandering eye when you’re out together isn’t a sign that he wants to have an affair, or that he’s having one. Someone simply caught his attention. He didn’t run off to meet her or get her number, he’s holding your hand, enjoying time with you.

This also applies to any past relationships he had that make you feel jealous. That relationship is over. He’s with you now. If he wanted to still be with her, he would be.

None of us are perfect, and everyone requires forgiveness from time to time. It’s important not to hold your guy or your relationship to a standard that can never be met.

Resist Acting on Your Initial Jealous Feelings

In today’s society, we do everything immediately. We never stop to think something through. Someone pulls out in front of us and we honk the horn and start flipping them the bird.

This is reactionary behavior, and it’s not healthy, and yet, many of us behave in this way without realizing it.

Reactionary people often start sentences with he made me. It’s a blame game. Whatever someone else does that causes you to react was their fault, not yours.

The problem with this line of thinking is that you actually have control over your reactions, you just don’t realize it.

Instead of flying off the handle when something happens, use the old count to ten rule- take a breather and count to ten. This allows you enough time to think, instead of just react.

The same is true of jealous feelings. Instead of reacting immediately when the feeling comes along, take some time to consider the truth of the evidence in front of you, if there is any.

If you don’t believe me, put yourself in this situation.

Tomorrow, you have a job interview for the dream job of your life, but your boyfriend just dumped you, out of the blue, and you feel devastated.

How are you going to go into that interview? Crying and sobbing?

Of course not, you’re going to pull yourself together and put both of your good feet forward.

This shows you that you do have control over your emotions when you want to.

The other reason to use restraint is that your negative reaction could do damage to an otherwise healthy relationship.

Work on Your Confidence and Self-Esteem

Many of the problems behind jealousy relate to low confidence and low self-esteem, so the best defense is a great offense.

Actually, most problems in relationships can be linked back to low confidence and self-esteem. If you don’t feel worthy of your partner, or you feel inferior in some way, you’ll always be afraid he’s looking for someone better.

Unfortunately, many people suffer from low confidence and there is not a lot of readily available information on how to build it, but I have an entire area of this website devoted to it, since it’s a relationship site and it’s so important to healthy relationships. You can find it here:

I want to change my life!

how to stop being jealous in a relationship

How to Stop Being Jealous in a Relationship: Don’t be Afraid to Talk About It

A great relationship is grounded in excellent communication. Being afraid to talk to your partner about something is a low-confidence play. Be sure to pay attention to how you should bring this up and discuss it.

It’s possible he doesn’t even realize that he’s doing something that concerns you. If he loves you, he doesn’t want to hurt you in that way. What you’re perceiving as a threat to your relationship might be perceived by him as no big deal.

Approach the subject when the two of you are in a good place. It’s never to begin a difficult conversation in the middle of an argument or when one or both of you are tired.

Also, use “I” language:

  • I feel a little threatened when you flirt with Felicia from work
  • I feel as if you’re paying a lot of attention to the new girl in your office

When you state something this way, you’re taking ownership of your feelings and you’re disarming any argument he may have. While he may disagree with your assessment of those situations, it’s hard to disagree with how someone is telling you they feel.

Finally, spend as much time listening as you do talking. A conversation, especially one about a difficult topic, should be equal and fair. If you’re the only one talking, you aren’t allowing him any time to say his piece.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

This is another low-confidence/low-self-worth move. Recently, I was out with a friend and a very well-dressed woman caught my eye, not because she was pretty, but because her outfit was entirely too much for where we were.

She was dressed for a funeral and we were at a flea market. So I took another glance from behind and realized that this person was bald. My buddy had seen him too and said, “dude had a beard and mustache.”

So it was a guy dressed in women’s clothing. My immediate thought was good for you pal. Be who you are!

Be you. Your guy fell for you, not some altered version of you, unless you completely misrepresented yourself to him.

If you want to wear tie-dye skirts and Birkenstocks, go for it. If you’re comfy in jeans and t-shirts, wear that. If you want to become a painter, become one. If you want to be a CEO, shoot for the stars.

Just be yourself. Don’t worry about who other people are or what they look like. It isn’t important how much money your sister makes and what size her home is. Just be you.

You’ll find a tremendous level of peace in deciding that the opinions of others don’t matter to you anymore, and you’ll find more time since you’ll spend less time on social media trying to prove yourself.

How to Stop Being Jealous in a Relationship: Use a Journal

Journaling is an excellent tool for uncovering what’s really going on in your mind. If you sit down in a quiet place and let the words flow without judgment and fear, you will discover all kinds of stuff.

I read a story once about a woman who would journal every day. On Sundays, she would go back through her journal and look for recurring themes. Was she sad, depressed, happy? What was going on during those times?

It’s very enlightening and very therapeutic.

Through journaling, you may discover the true source of your jealous feelings.

Stay Off of Social Media

I just eluded to this, but let’s talk a little more about it. When people feel the need to post about their nice new expensive car or home, what makes them think anyone else cares?

We all go along and hit the like button, doing our due diligence, but why should I care, really? I’m sorry to tell you that I don’t care what you ate for dinner or where you got it. I don’t need to see your big new house or your bright shiny new car.

If you’re my friend, I will give you a pat on the back the next time I see you to congratulate you. Sharing that stuff on social media is a way of doing a couple of things:

  • Proving that you became something
  • Feeling better about yourself because you think you became something or did something great

If I’m following you on social media, chances are I’m more interested in where you hiked last weekend so I can check it out. Truth be told, I rarely use social media personally. Professionally, of course, I have accounts, but that’s information I share for you.

Don’t Be Afraid to Seek Professional Help

Some of the roots of jealousy are buried deep and the best thing you can do for yourself and your relationship is to seek professional help.

There’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s something more people should try. It might even be beneficial at some point to seek couple’s counseling so you can learn how to communicate effectively with one another and support one another.

How to Stop Being Jealous in a Relationship – Wrap Up

Healthy jealousy is normal, but when it threatens your relationship or sanity, it’s time to address it. Dig into the roots of your feelings and work on overcoming low confidence and low self-esteem issues.

Don’t be afraid to own what’s going on because that’s the best way to address it.

Be willing to talk to your partner about your feelings and to seek therapy if you feel like you can’t overcome this on your own.

Most of all, know that you’re a beautiful person, and comparing yourself to other women will never amount to anything good.

The first confidence building book for women and a best-seller, Comfortable in Your Own Shoes will prepare you to meet great men and enjoy a happy and fulfilling life. And not just any life, but a life you design for yourself. YOUR life your way! 

Are you ready to start planning that great life? Click below to get started today! There’s no time like now to live your life on your terms!

What to do When Your Boyfriend is Controlling

What to do When Your Boyfriend is Controlling

Do you know what to do when your boyfriend is controlling? Are you wondering how you can make this situation better?

People act in a controlling way for several reasons, most of which have nothing to do with you and everything to do with them. For today’s purposes, we’re discussing a boyfriend who is controlling on occasion, but not 100% of the time.

Every relationship dynamic has its nuances. What worked for your parents or his might not work for the two of you. Your friends might have a relationship you just can’t figure out, but it’s working for them.

Recognizing whether your relationship is healthy and needs tweaking or is unhealthy is the goal of today’s post.

boyfriend is controlling

Do You Know if Your Boyfriend is Controlling?

First, let’s look at whether the behaviors your boyfriend is exhibiting are truly controlling. It’s human nature to want to control your environment, but someone who wants to control everything all the time might have something going on.

He Seems Paranoid and Insecure

The need to be in control is almost always rooted in insecurity. Most often, these insecurities center around:

  • Physical appearance – yours or his
  • His job security or performance
  • How do others view the two of you
  • Whether you might be getting the attention of other men
  • If he’s getting enough respect

These insecurities were around long before you came on the scene, so none of this is your fault. His emotions and self-image are fragile, and those things built up over many years. You may find out he was bullied at home or in school, or he was always told he was worthless, nothing. It’s sad, but it happens.

What Does it Look Like?

If he’s doing any of these things, this might be the problem:

  • Judgmental of others
  • Jealousy of other men, constantly critiquing them
  • He tests and questions your loyalty to him
  • He’s always looking for validation
  • While he can dish out the criticism, he can’t take it…at all
  • He showers you with gifts, to make up for what he perceives to be his failings
  • He always imagines he’s being disrespected

What Can You Do?

If his insecurity is minimal, like his performance in bed, for example, you can reassure him that he’s doing a great job. Men worry a lot about this, so it’s pretty normal insecurity. He might also feel insecure about his job, especially if he’s bucking for a promotion. Assure him that you love him just as he is, promotion or not.

If he seems to be paranoid, always questioning if you’re cheating on him or if another guy looked at you with too much interest, it’s time to have a heart-to-heart chat. Choose a time when things are going well between you, not a time when tempers are already flaring. Then, sit him down and explain that you aren’t interested in another guy and his paranoia is causing a problem between you. If he can control himself and his emotions, he’ll see the light and try to fix it, but if he denies it or gets angry, this might be the time you say goodbye.

Understand that you can’t fix this. Yes, your words of reassurance might help, but he needs to fix his stuff. Many women try to step in and smother him with reassurance, affection and appeasing actions, but this won’t work. If he’s acting in the extreme, you need to establish boundaries and stick to them.

It’s not okay for him to put trackers on your phone and car. It’s not normal to allow him to read your texts and emails. If you want him to, that’s one thing, but it’s not something he can demand. It’s okay for you to say no and if he can’t accept no, it’s time to leave.

He Feels the Need to Criticize You – All the Time

It’s fine for someone to say, “I’m not sure that shade of blue is the best color for you, babe,” because it’s once in a while and, odd as it might seem coming from a guy, it’s still harmless.

When the criticisms are constant and are intended to cause you to change your behavior, it’s problematic. When someone criticizes you all the time, the goal isn’t to help you better yourself with a new shade of blue, it’s to make you feel small, dumb, incompetent, and helpless. Chances are he feels that way and he doesn’t want to be with someone who feels better about themselves than he does.

What Does it Look Like?

Again, one comment every now and then is fine, but it’s the constant criticisms that are a problem. They might include:

  • Criticizing your physical features – you’re fat, you need a nose job, your boobs are too small, that sort of thing
  • He criticizes the way you pronounce things; we all come from different places and words are pronounced differently, or we learned to pronounce them incorrectly; it’s all good and we learn from hearing others, but his need to constantly correct you is no good
  • Your cooking is a constant bone of contention; of course, it’s not that he wants to cook, but he always has criticisms for yours – too much salt, too bland, too spicy, it won’t matter what you do, it won’t be good enough
  • He forces you to question your decision-making and your intelligence; he’s doing it to himself too so why not make you feel bad as well
  • You can’t do anything right, ever

These types of criticisms are meant to pull your power away from you, but I encourage you not to give anyone power over you and how you feel about yourself. This is all on him.

What Can You Do?

There’s no way everything you do is wrong; don’t allow someone to make you think that about yourself.

When I coach women who’ve experienced a breakup, I know she needs confidence building, and this is why. Breakups bring out the worst in people; often one partner tries to make the other feel small, dumb, and incompetent. Never allow someone to have that kind of power in your life.

Don’t rationalize his bad behavior. There’s no rational explanation for it other than his insecurities. Don’t explain it away or think he’s right. Sure, you might not pronounce a word properly, but who cares? It doesn’t change who you are.

While he might say he’s trying to help you be a better person, it’s a lie. If he were truly being a loving partner, he would provide constructive criticism like, “While I love this dress on you, I think the emerald green one really brings out the color of your eyes. You should wear that one more often!”

“Don’t you ever wear that ugly red dress again. It makes you look fat!” This statement is not helpful or constructive. It’s mean and controlling.

Having an open discussion might help. The best time to discuss something difficult is when you’re both happy and things are going well. Explain that you can’t constantly change every small thing about yourself, and you feel that’s what he’s asking you to do. This discussion will probably contain a breakup discussion, so be prepared to raise that possibility.

Know that you aren’t the one who needs to change. While he might be telling you how inadequate you are, these are his feelings about himself. If you can’t do anything right as far as he’s concerned, you’re not the girl for him. Period.

boyfriend is controlling

He Uses Threats and Ultimatums to Control Your Behavior

You don’t need to be threatened or manipulated. Nobody does, but a controller may use threats and ultimatums to try to control you.

What Does it Look Like?

Often, the threats center around him breaking up with you if you don’t do something his way:

  • If you don’t stop hanging out with your work friends, I’ll break up with you
  • If you don’t agree to marry me, I’ll kill myself – it’s extreme, but I know of someone who got married for just this reason
  • You need to go out with me Saturday night or I’ll post crap about you on social media
  • If you don’t make my dinner on time, I won’t take you to work tomorrow

Some of these sound utterly ridiculous but notice that they’re all ways in which he might feel out of control of a situation. When you’re with your friends, he can’t control you because you aren’t there. If you don’t marry him, how can he keep controlling you? He doesn’t want to lose another relationship.

He wants you to go out with him so you aren’t going out with someone else. If you’re making dinner on time, he knows where you are and what you’re doing. It goes on and on.

What Can You Do?

Dealing with threats and ultimatums can be scary, depending on the thread or ultimatum being issued. Someone threatening your life should be extricated from your life immediately. For some of these other threats, there are things you can try.

First, don’t give in. If you want to hang with your friends from work, do it, and if he breaks up with you over it, see ya later pal. You might think that agreeing with him or giving in will make him stop, but he’ll just find something else since the first time worked well for him. All you’re doing is giving up power. Nothing more.

Next, and this is a hard one to read I know, understand that someone who’s issuing threats and ultimatums doesn’t love you. If he did love you, he would turn himself inside out to show his love for you. These behaviors aren’t loving. Not even a little bit.

Lastly, get out of the relationship. This isn’t a fixable situation. Find a friend, a family member, or, an authority figure who can help you safely remove yourself from this relationship. You deserve someone who truly loves you for the wonderful person you are.

Your Boyfriend is Controlling You with Social Isolation

This is a classic control move. It’s little things at first, and it seems sweet. He’ll say, “Gee Babe, I’d really appreciate it if you’d cancel your plans with Sarah and spend the evening with me.”

The next thing you know, you never have plans with any of your friends or family. He either lies to you about them to make you believe they don’t want to hang with you, or he makes sure you can’t hang out with them.

This is done to avoid other people knowing how controlling he either is now or plans to be. He doesn’t want someone telling you that he’s wrong. He wants you to hear his voice and only his. That way, he can control every single aspect of your life.

Many controllers will also keep you from working an outside job, going to church, or participating in any sort of social group. He doesn’t want anyone to see the vacant look that you have, indicating how much of you he’s already sucked away.

What Does it Look Like?

At first, he’ll just complain about how much time you’re spending away from him. Then, if that doesn’t work, he’ll move on to criticizing your friends and family members. His goal is to get you to distrust the people you should trust the most and those you’ll lean on as he gets worse.

Then, he’ll make you feel guilty if you speak to those people and may even exact punishment. He doesn’t want others to see how he’s treating you. He wants full control.

Finally, he’ll threaten to either physically hurt you or leave you if you continue to contact the people he’s deemed unacceptable. He hopes that he’s made you rely on him enough that the thread of living without him will scare you into submission.

What Can You Do?

Don’t believe what he says about your friends and family. He might say your sister doesn’t want to talk to you anymore, but that’s a lie to distance you from her.

Your only real option, aside from not believing his lies, is to leave the relationship. If he’s trying to distance yourself from the people most important to you, he doesn’t have any great plans for your life together other than for him to demand and for you to obey. Do you want to lose all the important people in your life to live with one controlling individual? No, of course not.

There is no Trust

Trust is at the root of a great relationship. It’s something you earn and then strive to keep between you. While it’s normal not to fully trust someone you just met, you should allow a partner to earn your trust and vice versa.

What happens with a controller, however, is that he can’t trust you or anyone else. If you say you’re going to have ice cream with your bestie and you see him drive by, he doesn’t trust you. Wanting your passwords to your phone and email is another sign of distrust.

The thing is you probably haven’t done anything for him to distrust you. These are his insecurities, not your actions that are driving his behavior. He knows he’s not good enough for a great woman like you. His confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem are very low, and he knows you can do better.

What Does it Look Like?

You say you’re out with your friends for a girls’ night and he calls, constantly, to check up on you. Or, he might have a friend of his happen to show up where you’re supposed to be.

He might drive by to see if you’re where you said you would be or put tracking devices or apps on your car and phone.

You might catch him eavesdropping on your phone conversations or standing over you while you text or compose emails. You may even notice cameras hidden around your home as a way for him to watch you.

What Can You Do?

While you might be able to have a conversation about this with him and get him to stop. It depends on the level of behavior he’s exhibiting.

Again, have this conversation when things are happy and good between you. Explain to him that he’s making you uncomfortable by constantly spying on you and asking him what you’ve done to make him distrust you.

If this isn’t happening often or if this is the only thing he’s doing, he might not even realize the impact it’s having. He gets anxious because he can’t see you. His insecurity about himself tells him you’re out there and other men can see how great you are. In his mind, he’s about to lose you.

He needs to work on things, but pointing out to him that every time he’s checked up on you, you were where you said you’d be might help him realize he’s distrusting you for no reason.

Also, don’t lie to him about where you are going. That just confirms what he believes. Don’t lie about who you’re going with either. If you’re going out with three of your friends, say so. Don’t say, “I’m going out with Meg” if you’re going out with Meg, Sarah, and Elle. If he’s looking for a reason to distrust you, he’ll see that as a lie.

boyfriend is controlling

Your Boyfriend is Controlling When He Wants You to Feel Indebted to Him

A relationship doesn’t involve currency. What I mean by that is that he can’t buy you flowers and expect sex in return. Just because he bought you new earrings doesn’t mean he gets to tell you what to do.

What Does it Look Like?

Currency in a relationship comes in all shapes and sizes. Usually, however, in a controlling situation, it involves him buying you something that’s either just what you’ve been wanting or uber extravagant.

Now, in his mind, you owe him something in return. This is a nifty way to make someone dependent on you. You won’t feel you can get out of the relationship because you feel too guilty. Look at all the stuff he’s gotten for you or the things he’s done for you.

Poppycock! Those are all control maneuvers meant to make you feel exactly that way!

Things you never owe another person include sex, time, and the ability to express your opinion without fear of retribution.

You control who, when, and where you have sex with him or anyone else. Always. There is never a time when you owe someone sex. Read that statement a few times so it sinks in.

Time is a precious commodity, and in a relationship, you should make time for one another, but not at the expense of your life outside the relationship. Don’t give up your relationships with friends, family, or coworkers in lieu of time with him. You both need to maintain outside relationships to be healthy together.

Finally, you have and are entitled to your own opinion, and you should be able to express it, as long as you’re being calm and reasonable, without fear of being harmed.

What Can You Do?

There isn’t a way to fix this. He’s attempting to take away your freedom and that’s not something you should ever give away to anyone.

He’s Gaslighting You

This term comes from a 1944 movie called Gaslight where a man tries to make his wife think she’s going insane so he can steal her fortune.

People do it today and it can really be harmful.

What Does it Look Like?

You won’t see gaslighting coming. Some, but not all who use this tactic are true narcissists and professionals at manipulating people to get their way.

An example of gaslighting might be if your partner agrees to meet you after work at a local hangout. You show up and wait, but he never shows. You call and text and he finally tells you that he never agreed to meet you. You know you made a date, but he’s making you second-guess yourself.

Another example is name-calling. It sounds basic, but this gets you to believe something about yourself that isn’t true. He might call you manic-depressive or crazy because you got a little moody. Since when did he get a license to diagnose?

He might question your decisions, and make you question them as well. Of course, he’ll shoot down any explanations you come up with, so don’t waste your time.

Anything a gaslighter does is meant to get you to question yourself and alter your perception of reality. In the movie, the man dims the lights, but when the woman asks if the lights just dimmed, he says no, making her believe she’s losing her mind.

What Can You Do?

Gaslighting is emotional abuse. Your only true recourse, once you realize what’s happening, is to end the relationship.

This is not a person who is invested in a relationship with you because he loves you. These aren’t loving behaviors.

Once you recognize that someone is doing this to you, and it’s probably been going on for months or even years, you stop sharing your thoughts and feelings with him. Disengage and work on getting out. He’ll continue to try and make you feel like you’re wrong and you’re crazy, but you aren’t. Sanity is beginning to emerge again for you and you’re seeing very clearly now.

He Makes Your Life Miserable when He Doesn’t Get His Way

If you stand up to a boyfriend who is controlling and go out with your girlfriends after he told you not to, expect the silent treatment or worse.

How dare you stand up to him! What on earth were you thinking?

What Does it Look Like?

It looks just like that. You did something that didn’t fit into his model for your life and he’s pouting. Other ways this might show up include:

  • Him flirting with other women if you don’t wear what he told you to on a date
  • Blaming you because he didn’t get the promotion he wanted
  • Any form of physical abuse for something he claims you did wrong

What Can You Do?

This is not a sign of a healthy and happy relationship. You can try to discuss his behavior with him by telling him that his revengeful behavior hurts you and your relationship. If this is the only thing he’s doing or if he’s just starting this behavior, he might recognize his bad behavior and try to stop.

More likely, he’ll refuse to discuss this with you because deep down, he knows he’s wrong. He’ll never admit it and therefore you won’t make any headway in having a discussion.

Your Boyfriend is Controlling When He’ll Love You – Conditionally

If a guy loves you, he loves you for who you are today and who he thinks you have the potential to become. Sometimes, when you meet someone, you can see they’re working toward something, and you can see their potential. That ambition can be sexy and attractive.

If a guy only loves you if you lose weight or if you stop going out with that one friend of yours, he doesn’t truly love you to begin with.

What Does it Look Like?

  • My friends would probably like you more if you were smarter
  • I’d love you more if you’d stop wearing your hair that way
  • I love you so much when you wear that skirt
  • If you took better care of yourself, you might be attractive

This way of trying to mold you into someone else is mean and abusive. Sure, he’s not physically hurting you, but emotional scars last longer. Someone saying this to you all the time makes it sink into your subconscious and you begin to say it to yourself.

What Can You Do?

When he says something like that to you, call him out on it. Make sure he knows that saying those things is hurtful. Be careful how you word things, though, or he’ll just have room to argue with you.

If you say, “I don’t like it when you call me fat”, he’ll just say that he doesn’t call you fat. Of course, he’s using other types of statements to call you fat, but that’s beside the point.

Instead, say, “Josh, when you tell me I look fat, it makes me feel really bad.” It’s harder to argue with a statement when you say it’s your feelings. He can’t tell you how you feel. Oh, he might try to, but it’s harder.

Hurtful statements like those aren’t loving and they aren’t meant to be. This is a direct attempt to make you feel as small and worthless as he does.

Your best option is usually to end the relationship. If you’re just there to help him feel a little bigger by making you feel small, you can do better! You deserve better!

boyfriend is controlling

His Favorite Weapon is Passive Aggressive Behavior

Ahh, an oldie but a goodie, passive-aggressive behavior is yet another way to control someone.

What Does it Look Like?

“This is my girlfriend, Stacy. She talks like a hillbilly but she’s a great gal. Heh heh heh.” Okay, so he just introduced you to his friends and injected a criticism disguised as a cute little joke. That’s passive-aggressive.

“Boy you sure can cook,” said right after you accidentally burned the rice with dinner. Sarcasm is another form of passive-aggressive behavior.

If something is followed by, “Hey, I’m just kidding,” know that he isn’t. It’s a criticism disguised as what he thought was a joke.

While this doesn’t seem to be a controlling behavior, what he’s doing is trying to make you feel badly about yourself, just like he does. He’s trying to control your self-esteem and self-worth and that’s the worst way to control someone.

What Can You Do?

This is another instance where you might be able to call him out on his behavior. “Hey Jim, when you introduced me to your friends and then said I talk like a hillbilly, I felt really embarrassed.” Again, by telling him how you felt, and not using an accusing tone, you change his ability to reply in a snide or hurtful way.

He wasn’t kidding and you both know it, as do his friends, who also probably felt embarrassed. He may come back and tell you to lighten up or learn to take a joke but keep pointing out to him how hurtful his comments are.

If he refuses to stop, he doesn’t respect or love you and it’s time to end things.

Your Boyfriend is Controlling | Why is He Acting This Way?

He’s Narcissistic

Narcissism is not a choice people make but an actual psychological diagnosis. NPD or Narcissistic Personality Disorder affects many people and hinders their ability to have healthy relationships.

Many narcissists carry a higher-than-average opinion of themselves. They believe they’re more important than everyone else, more powerful, more intelligent, more capable, and so on. To make sure you believe it, they’ll exaggerate their accomplishments and abilities.

This type of person needs to make sure you know how special and unique he is, compared to other men. Of course, since he’s so special and unique, there’s no way you can understand him. He’s too far above you and everyone else for that to happen.

He needs lots of praise and positive attention, to be sure you know how important and special he is. He feels that he deserves special treatment. For example, if you go to a restaurant, he might feel he should always get the best table.

His need for personal gain outweighs everything else, so he takes advantage of people and situations to make sure they benefit him. His goals are the only important goals. He might use tactics like telling lies about someone to make sure they don’t get what he wants, or he may treat someone very badly.

Unable to see your needs or connect with you on an emotional level, he’ll come off as lacking compassion or selfish. He also envisions himself in competition with, well, everyone. He imagines that people envy him for all his great traits and that they’re jealous of him.

Most of those are signs of what professionals call overt narcissism. Covert narcissism is a little harder to detect. Those behaviors include:

  • Anxiety
  • Insecurity
  • Being overly sensitive, unable to handle criticism
  • Feeling defensive
  • Acting withdrawn or depressed

He Has High Anxiety

Anxiety is a symptom of many other disorders, but it’s at the root of controlling behavior. There is a strong need to control their surroundings and maintain some sense of order, however harmful and ineffective their efforts truly are.

Many people experience anxiety every day and there are varying degrees and abilities to cope with it. When hurricane Ian came through Florida, I had a lot of anxiety about being able to get there and check on my mom. I managed my anxiety easily and was able to get down there to help her without issues. That’s normal anxiety. You don’t know what you’re facing, and your mind plays out scenarios.

Often, when we’re otherwise healthy, we recognize what’s happening and put a stop to it.

Still, for some, anxiety is crippling and can force them into undesirable behaviors, like being a controlling boyfriend.

He Has Low Self-Esteem

When your self-esteem is low, you don’t think good thoughts about yourself. You don’t value yourself or even like yourself.

If your boyfriend has low self-esteem, he thinks very little of himself. He believes he’s not worthy of you and is in constant fear that two things will happen.

First, you’ll figure out what a schmuck he is, and second, you’ll leave him because he’s a loser. That fear or insecurity drives him to try extra hard to keep you from discovering he’s the person he believes himself to be and leaving him.

His low self-esteem also makes him sensitive to what he might perceive as attacks. You might say something you don’t think of as mean or harmful, but due to his low self-esteem, he takes it that way. The problem is that he already thinks those things about himself, but hearing someone else verbalize them brings his insecurities to life and confirms his beliefs about himself.

He Has Difficulty Trusting

If your boyfriend is controlling, he probably has difficulty trusting people. Someone in his past broke his trust in all people so much that he finds it difficult to trust anyone now.

It doesn’t matter what you think you’ve done to earn his trust; he can’t give it so it’s never enough.

Trust issues usually stem from something that happened in childhood, although not always. Someone close to him broke his trust and did a good job of it. His trust was shattered to the point where he decided nobody can be trusted, regardless of what they said or did.

This is something he can work on and overcome, with professional guidance, but it’s not something you can fix.

He Has a Fear of Abandonment

Imagine you’re a young child and someone very important to you leaves, either by death or physical separation. A mother dies, a father leaves the home never to be seen again, or something similar.

This creates a fear that everyone important to you leaves and never comes back. It’s not logical, but your young mind can’t yet figure out the logic behind death or separation.

You grow up and your grandparents die. Your dog runs away and never returns. A favorite teacher doesn’t return the following year. These things all shore up your belief that people leave and never come back.

If your boyfriend is controlling, this might be part of the issue. He lost one or more important people or even animals in his life and he’s developed a fear of abandonment. This displays in the same way low self-esteem does. He lives in constant fear that you’ll leave, just like everyone else in his past.

Again, this is something he can work on and overcome, with professional guidance. And again, it’s not something you can fix.

Your Boyfriend is Controlling | Now What?

The bottom line is that if your boyfriend is controlling, he needs to take a relationship break and work on himself if he’s willing. Some people are and some aren’t. Some controlling individuals grew up in a similar environment to the one they’ve created, and they don’t see their own failings.

Either way, it’s time for you to exit the situation. In many instances, if he does some work with a professional counselor, he can overcome the issues. But this is like alcoholism. He must first be able to see that he has a problem that requires help.

More people than you can imagine grow up believing that mental problems are poppycock and don’t exist, therefore you’ll never get them to seek help. Other people can see that they have an issue if you bring it up during a time when you’re getting along, and things are good.

As you learned above, how you approach a conversation is mostly about the words you use. Discuss how his behavior makes you feel without using accusatory language.

Bob, it makes me feel angry when you call me names” instead of, “Stop calling me names! It’s mean and rude.” It’s hard for someone to argue with how you feel, but he for sure can argue with whether he thinks he was mean and rude.

Don’t you think you’ve dated enough losers? Isn’t it time to find a great guy to date? Maybe you think you already have!

This book will help you know for sure! You’ll go in-depth on the good and bad qualities to look for in a man so you an know for sure.

End the guessing game and Weed out the Users!

Codependency in a Relationship | What is It and How to Change

Codependency in a Relationship | What is It and How to Change

Codependency in a relationship is an unhealthy relationship dynamic and a phrase first coined in articles that discussed substance abuse. In those relationships, one partner’s addiction often controlled the dynamic, creating a lopsided situation.

Outside of the substance abuse definition, codependency refers most often to a relationship in which one partner sacrifices his or her needs for the sake of the other. This partner is most often giving, while the other partner usually takes. Codependent relationships aren’t all romantic and can occur between friends or family members as well.

Codependency is often defined as manipulative, compulsive behaviors that are characterized by poor boundaries, a lack of self-esteem, and obsessive control. Some say it’s an addiction to a person and it’s sometimes called relationship addiction.

Many believe it’s a learned behavior, passed down through a family full of codependent relationships. The behavior is learned as a way to survive in a family with a lot of emotional turbulence. It’s not a genetic trait.

codependency in a relationship

What Exactly is Codependency in a Relationship?

In a healthy relationship, both partners support one another and while there may be times when things are lopsided, they return to a balanced state once the crisis is over. Examples of this include experiencing a job loss, the loss of a loved one, or health issues. In those cases, one partner will put forth the extra effort to support the other, but there may be another time when the roles are reversed.

People in healthy relationships don’t keep score of who did what for whom. There’s no, “I stayed home with the kids while you went out with your friends last week. You owe me.”

Codependency in a relationship occurs when one partner is the constant caregiver.

Jack and Kate are in a codependent relationship. Kate is almost always the one working to support herself and her husband. She did this for many years while he made various attempts to find a career, always failing. Now retired and in their seventies, their relationship continues to be lopsided.

Kate did everything for Jack until Kate became ill with cancer. She was hospitalized and required emergency surgery, but Jack remained at home, unrealistically afraid of getting sick if he went to the hospital to be with her. When Kate returned home a few days after surgery, Jack still expected her to fill her role as his caregiver, barely helping her recover.

In relationships where substance abuse is a problem, the caregiver partner will make excuses for the other, calling them in sick at work, providing them a place to live, or even giving them money to support their addiction.

What Causes Codependency?

There is no recipe for codependency, although some people who enter codependent relationships often have a history of codependency or a dysfunctional relationship in their past. Sometimes childhood trauma leads to anxiety and insecurity about relationships.

Codependency in a relationship sometimes occurs when one partner who feels a need to rescue someone finds someone who feels they need to be rescued.

Mike and Joanne met online and then dated offline for some time. Joanne had a difficult childhood which included sexual abuse by a family member. As an adult, Joanne is divorced and has a son with Autism. Mike’s childhood wasn’t as tragic, however, he was raised in a relationship where his mother was very overbearing and tyrannical. To top it off, he wasn’t her favorite child. That crown went to his older brother, whom Mike felt could do no wrong.

So, when Mike met Joanne, it was kismet. Every woman from his past, from high school into his thirties, needed to be rescued. Of course, every relationship failed, but he wasn’t making that connection.

A year or so into their relationship, Mike proposed. Another year passed and Mike and Joanne were still engaged but living together in a home Mike could barely afford, but that Joanne wanted because she had never owned a home before. After a few months, Mike began having doubts about the marriage, so Joanne threatened suicide and Mike acquiesced.

Still married several years later, the couple is as unhappy as they were before they married, neither willing to admit that their relationship dynamic is unhealthy.

How do You Know if You’re in a Codependent Relationship?

As you read previously, codependent relationships occur not just in romantic relationships but in any relationship. Your relationship with your BFF could be codependent. The relationship your mother has with you or one of your siblings could be codependent. How do you know? What are the signs of codependency in a relationship?

You Want to Rescue Them

It’s healthy to want to help someone when they’re suffering. It’s human nature to form bonds and care for others. But this need to rescue is excessive and there is an underlying fear that if you don’t rescue them, something terrible will happen.

Beth has rescued her children since they were young children. Now, even though they’ve got kids of their own, Beth still rescues her sons, especially Matt, who comes every night for dinner. Matt has an unhealthy codependent relationship with his mother. They talk every morning promptly at 9:00 and if he calls a minute late, she’s in a panic. Her happiness or lack thereof sometimes depends on whether he’s having a difficult day. Every evening, he comes for dinner, reciting every minute detail of his day back to her as if checking in. The minute something seems to be going wrong, Beth is there to rescue Matt. Matt’s older sister wonders what will happen to Matt when their mother dies because she has no plans to continue in her mother’s place.

codependency in a relationship

One Partner Enables the Other’s Behaviors

As in the case of Jack and Kate above, one partner is often hard-working and responsible while the other can be irresponsible and a slacker. The enabled partner never sees consequences for his actions because the enabler is always covering.

Intimacy and Trust are Difficult

Usually, when you’re prone to codependency in a relationship, you find intimacy and trust to be a challenge. Being open and communicating effectively is challenging because of those two issues.

Codependency in a Relationship | Sacrifice

One partner in a codependent relationship sacrifices to keep the other happy. These sacrifices include money, time, energy, values, goals, and sometimes friendship and health. The enabler spends all his or her time making sure the enabled partner is happy. Almost everything they do together is something the enabled partner wants to do, rarely what the enabler wants.

You Walk on Eggshells

Your life is consumed by making sure you don’t make the other person unhappy. You feel as if you’re constantly walking on eggshells around them. You don’t express your opinions, feelings, or desires and you always say yes to whatever he wants for fear of suffering the repercussions if you don’t.

In the instance of Mike and Joanne above, Mike fears that Joanne will have an emotional breakdown or attempt suicide if he leaves or doesn’t do everything he can to keep her happy.

Are You in a Healthy Relationship?

Is your relationship healthy or unhealthy? Sometimes, it's difficult to tell if you're in the middle of it. Things can seem fine, but there's something niggling in your mind...something doesn't feel quite right. Click the button below to read more articles that will help you figure it out.

Codependency in a Relationship | You Both Have Past Family Trauma

Few relationships have one mentally healthy person and one who’s unhealthy. If this occurs, it’s often because something changed after they got together.

A confident man or woman won’t enter a relationship with someone who lacks confidence, at least not for long. Therefore, when codependency in a relationship exists, it’s often because both individuals have past family trauma, a history of addiction, abuse, or mental illness.

It’s often easy to look back into the past of both people and see a path of unhealthy relationships in their wake. If you grew up in this environment, you may not even recognize it as unhealthy because it was your normal growing up.

The Enabler Feels Like a Martyr

While the giver often feels as if he or she is behaving how they want to, they’re often secretly resentful that they spend all their time caring for someone and nobody takes time to care for them. It’s a contradiction within themselves – a desire to be the caregiver while wanting secretly to be taken care of also.

The Relationship Continues, Even When the Problem is Obvious

The giver in a codependent relationship will be hurt by the other person, either financially, physically, or emotionally. Often, it’s all three. Even though they recognize this hurt, they remain in the relationship.

The Problems You Want to Fix are Usually Too Big for You

Many of the problems in a codependent relationship aren’t fixable by the giving partner. Addiction, for example, is a problem that requires professional intervention. A history of physical or sexual abuse can’t be fixed by someone without a mental health background either. While you may want to fix this person’s life, the truth is that the problems are bigger than you can manage, but that doesn’t stop you from trying.

Codependency in a Relationship | You Don’t Take Care of Yourself

When you’re the giver in a codependent relationship, you often spend all your time taking care of the other person. Self-care, if it ever happens, makes you feel guilty. You don’t take time to enjoy a hobby, spend time with friends or even rest appropriately.

You Feel Resentful

Even though this behavior feels normal to you, you may feel resentful or taken advantage of. This is a valid feeling because to some extent, it’s true. However, if you’re the one giving, you must take responsibility for your actions.

You Stay Because It’s Safe and Easy

Rather than face the idea of being alone, rejected, abandoned, or criticized, you stay in the relationship. Chances are good that you felt those emotions in childhood, and you don’t want to feel them again. To avoid that, you stay in the relationship.

How to Change the Codependent Relationship Dynamic

Much like any other problem, recognizing that you’re in a codependent relationship is the first step toward moving forward in a healthier dynamic.

With time and work, it is possible to change codependency in a relationship into a healthier situation, but both parties must be willing to make positive changes.

Of course, the trick to this is that you can only change yourself. You can’t change someone else or force them to change. Changing your relationship dynamic begins when you change yourself.

Improve Your Self-Worth

When you have low self-worth, you don’t see your true value to others. You engage in a lot of negative self-talk and are overly critical of yourself. Your focus is on your past mistakes instead of your accomplishments. You often blame yourself when things go wrong and tend to think other people are better than you. You don’t believe you deserve good people or things in your life.

Focus on Your Accomplishments

A great way to discover your value in life is to focus on your accomplishments. A great movie example of someone with low self-worth is It’s a Wonderful Life. In the movie, George Bailey constantly sacrifices his desires for others. He never pursues the life he wants because he’s too busy sacrificing for his family.

As the movie advances, George becomes distraught when he faces a crisis in his business. He wishes he’d never been born at all and his guardian angel, Clarence, grants his wish. George gets to see what the lives of his loved ones would be like if he’d never been born. He discovers all the accomplishments and positive impacts he’s had in their lives.

Take some time to examine your accomplishments, and don’t try to say you don’t have any. Think back through your life. You probably took difficult classes, but you got through. You may have been on sports teams or fostered a talent like music or art. Some people are great at volunteering, which always makes a positive impact on others.

Your accomplishments don’t need to be grand to matter. Things you did that had a positive impact on someone else are accomplishments, but so are overcoming challenges and reaching goals.

Make your list and allow it to sit. Other things will come to you, and you can add them. Seeing these accomplishments will help you understand that you do have value and you are worthy of having great people and things in your life.

Consider Your Own Needs

It’s great to want to help people, but not at the expense of your own needs. We all have some basic needs that go unmet in codependent relationships. This includes proper diet, getting enough rest, taking time for self-care, and having boundaries that protect your values.

The takers in codependent relationships are often great boundary crashers, leaving you with a pile of rubble instead of healthy boundaries to protect yourself.

What needs do you have that are going unmet? This can be difficult to think about because you’re accustomed to setting aside those needs, but deep down, you know what they are.

For some, it’s a need to have time to yourself, quiet time just to breathe and exist without pressures or commitments. For others, it’s spending time on a hobby or reading. While a boundary crasher might want you to think you’re being selfish by tending to your own needs, it simply isn’t true.

Be Kind to Yourself

It’s time to end the stream of negativity that’s running through your head. This is a slow process because changing your thought processes doesn’t happen overnight. You didn’t develop those negative thoughts quickly and they won’t go away quickly.

Consider seeking professional help if you feel you can’t do this on your own. There’s no shame in it whatsoever.

To change your thought patterns, first, begin noticing all those negative things you say to yourself. They might seem harmless, but they aren’t. As you hear them, write them down and then follow up with a positive statement that reflects what is most likely the truth.

I’m so stupid becomes I can do anything if I try. In the future, as you hear those negative thoughts, you can replace them with positive ones. It takes continuous effort, but the outcome is well worth it!

Replace Negative Relationships with Positive

Sometimes, you need to do a little housecleaning in your relationships. We tend to draw people to us who are most like us so there’s a great possibility that you have some negative people in your life right now.

Look at your closest relationships and the individuals in them. Is this person a positive person who is supportive of you and tries to pull you up, or is this person someone who helps bring you down?

If the person is someone in your family, it’s often tricky to completely extricate them from your life, but in that case, try to limit your exposure to them and begin setting and enforcing boundaries.

Establish Boundaries

Speaking of boundaries, now that you’re beginning to understand and improve your self-worth, it’s time to protect it with boundaries. Nobody, including you, can treat you like crap any longer. You aren’t going to allow anyone to take advantage of you or treat you as if you’re less worthy.

To determine where you need boundaries, first examine when you’ve felt taken advantage of. For example, if someone in your family always comes to you asking for money, you can set a boundary. In this rebuilding of you, you’re hopefully working on securing your financial situation, so lending or giving money to someone would go against that value or goal.

When that family member asks again for money, you either need to limit it to an amount that won’t hurt you financially or decline the request altogether. If you do loan someone money, even if it’s family, always create a written document to state their intention to repay, how, and when.

That’s a boundary. People who have pushed past your boundaries before will resist and try to get you to cave in, but you must stand firm, regardless of what they say. Always remember in a situation like this that they’ve gotten themselves into whatever financial mess they’re in. It’s not your job to get them out. Just like it’s not your job to get someone out of any mess they create.

Learn to Say “No”

People with low self-worth are often “yes” people. They will say yes to any request because they fear that if they don’t, they’ll lose the relationship.

Saying no after a lifetime of being a “yes” woman isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start anyway. If someone doesn’t want to be around you because you stood your ground for your own reasons, whatever they are, that’s on them. You can’t control the behavior of other people. You can only control your own.

People who are accustomed to taking advantage of you in the past will try to convince you to change your mind. The question to ask yourself is what you’re saying “No” to if you say “Yes” to their request. Additionally, if you say “No” and then change it to a “Yes”, you’ll have a hard time saying “No” to that person in the future.

Someone who wants to push you past your comfort zone or value and limits doesn’t have your best interest in mind, they have their own in mind.

Get to Know Yourself

What do you like to do? What do you like to eat? Where would you like to live? Have you ever considered these questions without considering someone else’s opinion?

If you could spend your time doing something you truly enjoyed, what would that be? Often when you’re in a codependent relationship, you don’t know the answers to these questions because your whole life has been focused on someone else’s wants and needs.

Now it’s time to learn about you, your wants and needs, and then spend time pursuing those things.

Disengage Some

It’s time to put some physical and emotional distance between you and others. This isn’t about abandoning someone or ending your relationship, it’s just about putting some space in there so you can complete these other steps.

Disengaging or detaching yourself isn’t selfish, just like self-care isn’t, but it is necessary to improve your situation. What it does is allow you the space to get to know yourself and become the person you truly want to be. When you disengage, you stop:

  • Participating in arguments
  • Involving yourself in a situation that feels uncomfortable or unsafe
  • Putting the feelings, opinions, and needs of others ahead of yours
  • Trying to fix other peoples’ problems, listening instead without action
  • Nagging and criticizing others
  • Saying “Yes” all the time
  • Allowing people to crash your boundaries
  • Being reactive, instead of remaining calm and evaluating the situation to determine what your proper reaction should be

Accept Responsibility for What’s Yours Only

It becomes a bad habit to accept responsibility for your partner’s bad choices and to try to fix them, but to recover from codependency in relationships, you must stop.

Additionally, you must own your responsibility for where you are in your own life. Yes, things from your childhood got you here, but now that you recognize the problem, it’s time to take charge of the situation and own your part.

You can make your situation better for you. If you’re with someone who is a spendthrift, don’t allow him access to your money. If you’re sharing in the expenses, pay your half yourself. Most companies have online systems now, which makes it easy. Yes, you still might experience the electricity being shut off if he doesn’t pay his half, but you also have the option to stay with a friend or relative and not suffer the consequences of his actions.

Don’t allow the words of others to continue to make you believe that you can’t take care of your own needs. You’re an adult with free will to make choices and so is your partner, friend, or family member. Stop accepting responsibility for their choices and start owning your own.

End the Victim Mentality

It’s easy to blame others for everything wrong in our lives. You’re in a codependent relationship now because of something someone did or didn’t do in your childhood. How you deal with it is up to you. It goes back to accepting responsibility but takes it one step further.

Being a victim means never owning your role in anything. Life happens to you. You’re not an actor but a recipient.

Instead, become a student of life who is always growing and learning. Set aside the desire to shirk responsibility and start owning your life. You are the only one who can truly make changes in your life. You’re responsible for becoming the next version of yourself, whatever that is. Set your mind in a new direction where there’s no more blaming, just becoming the best version of yourself you can be.

With ditching the victim mentality comes the freedom to become whomever you want to be. You can chart your new course, set your own goals, and determine your values, then live your life to become the person who follows the course, achieves goals, and adheres to those values.

Codependency in a Relationship Doesn’t Need to be Permanent

Now that you’re aware of what codependency in a relationship looks like, you can move toward being proactive, instead of reactive in your life. You can take the steps to move away from that type of relationship, either with or without the other person in the codependency.

Chances are good that if you have a codependent romantic relationship, you have other codependent relationships as well, probably within your family, but they could be hiding in your friendships too.

Work toward taking those steps and nature will take care of the rest. As others see you making positive changes, one of two things will happen. Either they’ll ask to join you and learn how you’re making all those great changes, or they’ll resist and fall away. Either is acceptable if you remember that you can only control and change yourself. Whatever someone else chooses to do is on them.

Having an effective self-care routine is crucial to your daily peace and happiness, but many people falsely believe that self-care is simply taking a hot bath with a glass of wine and some candles.

There are so many other ways to enjoy a self-care routine and this book walks you through them, providing you with many choices on how you can implement a self-care routine into your schedule. 

How to Get Rid of an Ex

How to Get Rid of an Ex

So you’re interested in learning how to get rid of an ex. There are two easy steps that will help you rid yourself of him for good!

It’s the same old story. You spend months, or even years in a crappy relationship until you finally summon the courage to get out. You dump him and enjoy your newfound freedom, but he just won’t go away.

He’s lonely and he wants you back. It’s an interesting twist of fate for most men who are usually the ones to break up. Still, there he is looking all pitiful and you actually give some consideration to taking him back.

Wait!

Before you cave in and add a few more months or years of misery to your life, read these tips on how to get rid of an ex.

What Made Him Want You Back?

Most likely, your ex saw you re-engaging with life. You may be working out, changing your hair or wardrobe, and generally making positive changes in your life. He’s intrigued and even challenged by this new you.

Without realizing it, you took the steps I often recommend for women who want their ex back. I’m not saying what you did was wrong, because it wasn’t. It was exactly right, but it had a positive impact on your ex. So now, what can you do?

How to Get Rid of an Ex: Make a List

Sit down and review your relationship with this guy. What was it that made you want to break up with him in the first place? What are the chances that he’s changed and those reasons would no longer exist?

People break up because something, or most often, someone is broken, usually both people. Your confidence has dipped. He’s a misogynist or a narcissist. Your communication was poor. One of you gained more confidence while the other stayed stuck with low confidence. The list is miles long.

Do you see any evidence of positive change? Sure, you’ve changed, but has he? A misogynist or a narcissist isn’t likely to change so you can forget it if that’s your ex.

Now, review the men you’ve dated and make a list of their positive traits. You can include your most recent ex in your evaluation. When you review these positive traits, how many does your ex have right now? Not when you started dating but when you broke up. Be honest.

Knowing how to get rid of an ex requires honesty with yourself about him and your relationship with him. Just because he came back and stirred some old chemistry doesn’t mean the two of you will work this time.

how to get rid of an ex

Talk to Your Friends and Family

These folks were with you during the difficult time you and your ex experienced. They helped you think through your decision to break up with him. While you may be feeling that chemistry and focusing on only the good memories, they recall the tears and anguish he put you through before you finally decided to get out.

When you want to know how to get rid of an ex, you need to be prepared for your friends and family to take a tough stance. They don’t want to see you get hurt and they’ll be there to support you now as you try to stand strong with your decision.

How to Get Rid of an Ex | Stay Away From Mutual Friends

The friends you shared are usually the ones who are telling your ex how great you look and all the details of your new, confident life. They don’t intend harm, it’s just casual conversation. In fact, he may overhear it and not directly be part of the conversation.

If some of those friends were your friends to begin with, you can kindly remind them that you’re looking into how to get rid of an ex, not how to bring him back. They probably don’t even realize what they’re doing.

If those friends were his friends, it’s time to extricate yourself from the group. They might think they’re helping when they aren’t. They see how miserable he is and they don’t realize you don’t want him back, so they share news of your new life with him.

Block Him from Your New Life

Depending on how involved the two of you were, you may now share some aspects of your life, like bank accounts or other memberships.

It’s time to separate those accounts. If he added any money to the account, ask for a cashier’s check and mail it to him. Remove his name from the account or close it all together and open a new one.

For any other memberships, your best move is probably the same, close the account you share and open one that’s just yours. Let him know things are closed and if he wants to rejoin, he’ll need to do so on his own.

While you’re removing him from your life, block him on your social media and other accounts. If he’s bugging you by text or phone calls, you can block him. While he can still find out what you’re doing through friends, at least you’re making it more of a challenge for him to do so.

Are You Ready to End it?

Not all breakups are initiated by a man. If you're ready to end this relationship, go for it. Only you know whether you're happy and if the relationship is fulfilling your needs. It's possible that he feels the same way but you're both afraid to take that step. It's okay. Read some of the other articles on the subject by clicking below. They're here to help.

how to get rid of an ex

How to Get Rid of an Ex | Be Blunt

I know you don’t want to hurt him, even if he’s being a pain right now, but you’ve probably heard the saying, nice guys, or in your case, nice gals finish last.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a time for being nice. If all other attempts have failed, it’s time to be direct. This is the language he understands best. “I’m sorry Bill, but I really am not interested in getting back together. Please stop trying to win me back.”

Shake Things Up

He knows your routines, so it’s time to change them. I know this is an annoying thing to do, but it reduces your chances of running into him. For example, if you both went to the same gym before, start a new membership somewhere else. Get your coffee somewhere else. Drive a different route to work. Shop for groceries someplace else. Move to a new home.

All these things help make you more difficult to find.

Of course, if you have a stalker on your hands, you need to take even more drastic measures, like moving to a new town, not just a new home, changing your phone number and other information he knows.

The Nuclear Option: Contacting His Family

In your quest for knowledge on how to get rid of an ex, you probably didn’t consider this one and the success of it will depend on not only his relationship with his family, but yours too.

If you had a good relationship with them, you might be able to go to them now and ask them to intervene on your behalf. Mothers are especially effective in these efforts, although if he’s closer to his father and you’re comfortable speaking with him, start there.

Without accusation or speaking anything negative about their son or loved one, share with them that you’ve been trying to get your ex to leave you alone. Ask them if they can help you by speaking with him and asking him to stop.

It’s possible they will be more effective than you’ve been.

How to Get Rid of an Ex

Exes have a way of noticing the positive changes you’re making in your life and it intrigues them, whether you want it to or not. They suddenly feel challenged by this new you. You’re mysterious to them again and their interest is piqued, especially if they’ve had little luck in moving forward themselves.

Try the steps above on how to get rid of an ex and hopefully, he will see the light and go away. Be kind and encourage him to move on without you.

Stay positive, but stand firm in your resolution to keep him out of your life and don’t offer up being friends as an alternative. He will only view this as another way to win you back. Tell him instead that if he can stop pursuing you for a relationship, maybe some day the two of you can be friends again.

If you're ready to move on from this relationship, you're ready for He's Gone, Now What? This book walks you through the many aspects of dealing with a breakup, even if you're the one who initiated the breakup. Regardless of who started it, as they say, your body becomes addicted to the chemicals associated with being in love. The withdrawal process is as daunting as the withdrawal from cocaine.

You'll also learn about the stages of grieving a relationship and how to begin moving forward. You'll walk through the steps of preparing yourself for dating again and gain an understanding of how you can do so in a healthy, happy relationship.

You can learn more about the book here or you can purchase it by clicking one of the buttons below.

How to Not Date a Jerk

How to Not Date a Jerk

Have you ever wondered how to not date a jerk? They seem to be everywhere. No matter how hard you try to avoid them, they seem to ooze out of the woodwork like roaches waiting to pounce.

To be clear, today, we’re talking about lazy, unmotivated, broke, selfish guys who put on a heck of a show for the first few dates and then show their true colors.

Slow Your Roll

Take the time to get to know the man you’re dating, especially if he’s pushing you. Screen him with a phone or zoom call. If he checks out, schedule a daytime date in public.

Daytime dates offer him little chance to have sex with you and help reveal his true character. Don’t have sex with him or you’ll be blinded by your emotions. Hold off until he has proven himself to be worthy of you.

how to not date a jerk

How to Not Date a Jerk: Watch for Patterns to Emerge

Dating is like a marketing exercise. You both want to show your best side to the other person, so you try to hide any baggage and stay on your best behavior.

You won’t hear about the rash around his balls or his drinking problem, and you won’t have a clue that his ex is poking a look-alike voodoo doll of his face with sewing needles.

His true colors usually arrive near the three-month mark of your relationship. The curtain falls and the real man steps forward. He begins to feel comfortable with you and you haven’t dumped him yet, so he feels a little safer showing more of his true colors.

Until you reach this milestone, keep your emotions in check and try not to sleep with him yet. If he respects you, he’ll wait and so far, he hasn’t yet fully proven himself worthy of you. If he’s pushing for sex and trying to crash your boundaries, it might be time to let him go.

Don’t let this guy meet your kids until you’re sure he’s not just another jerk. This keeps them safe from harm and keeps them from falling for him, only to suffer disappointment later…again.

Date Multiple Men

Before you protest, know that he’s dating other women while you’re still in this early phase of getting to know one another. I recommend you do the same. This keeps you from falling too hard for him and allows you to keep your options open.

If you only date one guy at a time, you believe you can mold him into the guy you want. You don’t see that you have other options, and you fall too hard, too fast. You also don’t get a chance to compare different types of men with clarity.

You will never change this guy! Knowing how to not date a jerk means dating more than one guy!

how to not date a jerk

How to Not Date a Jerk | Know What You Want in a Man

Write down what it is you want from a good man. Think back to other men you’ve dated. What did you like about them? What did you dislike? Form a list of those criteria and look for men who have some of them. You’ll never find the perfect guy. All you need is the guy who’s perfect for you.

Know what your dealbreakers are. For example, do you want to date someone who drinks to excess? Would you rather not date someone in a dangerous job? This is a good exercise, as long as you don’t make the list so strict that no guy will ever qualify. Then, you’re just avoiding a commitment.

Embrace Being Single

After you exit a relationship, remain single for at least four months, preferably longer. I know you might feel lonely and all your friends are dating, blah blah blah. Knowing how to not date a jerk means taking time to reestablish yourself as an independent single woman first.

Doing this gives you time to get to know yourself again, rebuild your confidence, get a handle on the current dating scene and reconnect with friends, hobbies and passions that may have been set aside during that last relationship.

This break from dating also allows you to get over your last relationship fully so you aren’t carrying old relationship baggage into a new, potentially great relationship.

Are You Ready to End it?

Not all breakups are initiated by a man. If you're ready to end this relationship, go for it. Only you know whether you're happy and if the relationship is fulfilling your needs. It's possible that he feels the same way but you're both afraid to take that step. It's okay. Read some of the other articles on the subject by clicking below. They're here to help.

How to Not Date a Jerk | Meet His Friends

Spend an evening hanging out with his friends and watch how they treat him. Do they show him respect? Does anyone pull you aside and warn you about him? How does he treat them and any other women in the room?

Meeting his friends helps you know more about what he’s really like. What type of guys are they? Are they players? If so, so is he. Guaranteed. If they seem like upstanding guys who have steady girlfriends and jobs, then he’s an upstanding guy too.

Does he get drunk? If so, how does he act then? Does he become someone else entirely? Is he rude, discourteous, angry, jealous, and so on? This isn’t normal behavior for someone who’s drunk, so don’t let him tell you it was the alcohol. Many people can get drunk and be perfectly nice, funny people who never verbally or physically assault anyone.

Conversely, let him meet your friends. They will be bulldogs for you. They can ask him questions you either can’t or won’t. They can dig into his past and are better able to ask him embarrassing questions that might draw out those true colors of his.

The only caveat is that if they give you an opinion you don’t like or even a warning, you should resolve to listen. They aren’t wearing your rose-colored glasses and they have your best interest at heart. If they’re seeing a problem, there is one and you’re choosing to close your eyes to it.

Use Your Intuition

Your intuition is a very powerful tool and yet, you probably ignore it sometimes. We all do if our intuition is telling us something we don’t want to hear. Your gut may be telling you something with this guy is off. Listen to that gut instinct.

Take some time to honestly look at what’s giving you that gut feeling. Is it his behavior or something he said? Did someone else say something to you that’s niggling at the back of your mind?

How to Not Date a Jerk | Look at Your Patterns

Humans are creatures of habit and tend to repeat failures, rather than stop and examine them for potential lessons.

Take some time to look at the past men you’ve dated, especially the ones who squarely fall into the jerk category. What is it about these guys that attracts you? Do you like the feeling of rescuing someone? Is it that you somehow are afraid you aren’t worthy of great guys or you don’t feel as if you can attract men other than these guys?

Take that exercise from above and look at the bad qualities in the men you’ve dated. What about those qualities seems to keep drawing you in? The excitement of dating a bad boy? Are you trying to prove something to someone? Really take the time to examine the why behind finding these guys datable.

Form a list of those negative qualities and immediately dismiss any man who shows even one of them.

Last week, I sat down with a woman named Jennifer who also wondered how not to date a jerk. As we talked, she discovered that she chose broken men ever time. She sought them out. Even if a better guy was sitting right in front of her, she chose the fixer-upper guy instead.

This is a low-confidence, low self-esteem, and low self-worth move. This need to fix others is a way of avoiding fixing yourself. It places you squarely in a co-dependent relationship and those never work long-term.

What Jennifer needs to do is embrace being single, learn to become a confident, independent woman and then seek out a great guy who deserves her. She needs a dating time-out to find herself again and rebuild from the damage of her dating past.

This is called a co-dependent relationship and it will always fail. Her fix? Embrace being single and take my confidence courses along with understanding men. The result? Now she is killing it!

Wrapping it Up

Knowing how to not date a jerk is easy, once you know what to do:

  • Slow your roll
  • Look for patterns
  • Date multiple men
  • Know what you want
  • Embrace being single
  • Meet his friends
  • Look at your dating patterns
  • Trust your intuition

Don’t you think you’ve dated enough losers? Isn’t it time to find a great guy to date? Maybe you think you already have!

This book will help you know for sure! You’ll go in-depth on the good and bad qualities to look for in a man so you an know for sure.

End the guessing game and Weed out the Users!

How to Heal from a Broken Heart

How to Heal from a Broken Heart

What you’re feeling right now is 100% normal and knowing how to heal from a broken heart and how to get over a guy will put you on the road to feeling better.

Regardless of what emotion you’re experiencing, I can guarantee you that somewhere in the world, someone else is feeling it too. Probably more than one someone. Breakups suck and they do a real number on your emotions.

When you first got into the relationship, everything was sunshine and roses. You felt great about yourself, and your ex probably validated those feelings by telling you how great you looked in a specific outfit or how much he loved you.

Then something happens and the relationship is over. What happened to him telling you he loved you? What about all those other nice things he said? And now, all of a sudden, he doesn’t want anything to do with you?

Turning your emotions upside down like this throws everything that was positive into a negative space. You might be more judgmental of yourself, believing whatever awful things your ex said to you in that last big argument.

But here’s the thing. Thoughts inform our feelings, and feelings play a role in how we act. When you feel down, you do things you normally wouldn’t consider, like skipping the shower…for three or four days or avoiding your friends and family.

It doesn’t matter if you initiated the breakup, or he did. You either feel guilty for ending it or you’re in shock, not believing how badly things spiraled out of control.

What you need to know is how to heal from a broken heart!

How to Heal from a Broken Heart at First

In the beginning, you feel like you’re all over the place. This is a great time to just stop and breathe. Breathe in for a three-count, then out for a three-count. Do this until you feel yourself calming down. Anytime you feel like you’re overly emotional, go back to this very simple, do-it-anywhere exercise. In and out for a three-count each way.

Grieving the loss of a relationship isn’t much different from grieving the death of a loved one. You go through different stages of grief, but there is a defined set of stages that also inform how you act.

How to Get Over a Guy | The Stages of Grieving a Relationship

There are nine generally recognized stages of grieving a relationship.

Shock

The first stage for almost everyone is shock. During this phase, a few things hit you all at once, leaving you reeling:

  • You discover you’re replaceable in the heart of someone you love
  • You feel irrelevant in his life and possibly even disposable
  • You no longer identify as part of a couple, but as an individual
  • Everything seems foggy and you kick into survival mode to compensate

You’re no longer producing the hormones associated with love, so your body is facing altered chemical states. You may feel fuzzy and uncomfortable and not quite know why.

Denial

You tell yourself this isn’t real. This breakup couldn’t possibly have happened. He’s going through something, but he’ll be back. While this might be true, you must stay in the present and not fool yourself into believing he’ll be back.

Instead of dealing with the breakup, you find that you’re still living as if you’re in a relationship. It’s a primal response to the breakup and part of your body’s way of denying the breakup.

Your mind plays tricks on you in a desperate attempt to produce those love hormones again. Science shows that your mind is so strongly addicted to those love hormones that it’s easier to get over an addiction to cocaine than it is to overcome an addiction to love hormones (Fisher 2004).

Denial can be tricky to recognize, but when you do, you slip into avoidance. During avoidance, which is part of the denial stage, you avoid facing the reality that you’re broken up. This is your mind’s way of protecting you from feeling the pain.

Desperate for Answers

This phase is just what it says. Now you’re looking for that one thing that you can do to fix it all.

You’re looking for the why so you can undo it. This step is really an attempt to disprove all the why’s you can identify. If you can do that, you can prove to him that the reasons for the breakup aren’t valid and everything will return to normal.

At some point, you’ll recognize that there are no good reasons for the breakup and you will slide into fixating on that instead. During this phase, you’ll drive your friends and family crazy!

You're a Survivor!

You might not feel like you can survive a breakup when it first happens, but if you look back in your life, you'll see that you've survived breakups before! This is a great article to help you, but there are others! Click the button below to check them out!

External Bargaining

This is one of the more creative phases. During this phase, you start bargaining with whomever it is you bargain to, and you promise you’ll do anything to get your ex back.

You are superwoman and can singlehandedly fix everything that was wrong with the relationship.

This isn’t a rational thought process. It’s completely emotional. If it were rational, you would realize that you can’t change the past.

The two questions to ask yourself during this stage are:

  • Are you the only person at fault, or does he own some of the blame?
  • Would changing things in the past really make things different today?

Those answers will become clearer as you proceed through the stages.

Internal Bargaining

Internal bargaining statements begin with “If only I had…“.

  • If only I had cooked his favorite meal more often
  • If only I hadn’t asked him to take the trash out when he was already stressed
  • If only I had done that thing in the bedroom that he kept begging for

You will drive yourself crazy imagining how things could have been different if only you had been different.

Of course, rational thinking tells you that you can’t go back and change the past, nor can you guarantee that if you had done something different, the outcome would be different.

Unfortunately, nobody I know has a time machine, so we can’t change what has happened in our past. All we have is our future.

Relapse

For some couples, breaking up and making up is just what they do. It’s more of a ritual than a special event.

Instead of making this a true breakup, it might make it seem as if this time is temporary too. He’ll be back as soon as he comes to his senses. Your main goal in this phase is to try to convince him to try one more time.

This isn’t really about that, though. It’s about trying to alleviate the pain of the breakup. If you can get him back, you won’t feel so icky.

The problem with this line of thinking is that you’ve broken up and gotten back together, now finding yourselves broken up again for one reason.

Nothing has changed. You’re the same two people still making the same mistakes as last time. Neither of you has tried to improve or change anything.

Therefore, the cycle will continue until one of you stumbles onto someone else during an off-again phase of your relationship.

Initial Acceptance

Once you find yourself here, you’re making progress. You experience moments of clarity when you can see a life without your ex. Unfortunately, those moments are sprinkled in amongst the other stages.

But there is good news. Each time you cycle into initial acceptance, you spend more time here and less time in the other phases. The higher your confidence becomes, the longer you’ll hang out here.

Anger

You knew anger had to be one of the stages and here it is, but it comes in two forms, depending on how fresh the breakup is.

At first, you’ll turn the anger onto yourself. You’ll pour over all your shortcomings, blame yourself for everything that went wrong and be angry with yourself.

You’ll see all your perceived flaws as reasons for the breakup:

  • I’m too fat
  • I’m too ugly
  • My nose is too big

This phase of grieving the breakup is all about placing blame. When you stop trying to blame someone, you’re moving out of this phase. The trick to this phase is learning to be responsible for your own emotions, including anger. Then, you can control it and once you can do that, you can start pulling your life back together.

If the breakup is older, you’re probably angry with your ex. Either way, the goal is blaming someone for what happened.

Hope

The only time humans truly feel hopeless is when they’re facing death. Otherwise, the feeling of hopelessness has a shining light somewhere. There is a glimmer of hope to grasp onto.

Hope shows up in many ways during the grieving process. At first, you’ll hope for reconciliation. Later, if you decide you don’t want him back, you’ll hope to survive without him or to find someone else.

Once you reach that point, you’re well on your way to building on your accomplishments and confidence. Hope will be closer at hand.

And So…

All of that text was to basically say that what you’re experiencing right now is normal. By understanding the phases you’re going through, you can recognize any risky behavior you might be considering as related to a phase and make a course correction.

These stages aren’t linear. Everyone goes through them differently. You might stay in one for a few hours, days, or weeks. There’s no right or wrong, and don’t let someone tell you otherwise.

Each time you experience a phase, it will be better than the last. Of course, the fun part is that since these stages aren’t linear, you never know which one will hit next, so it’s important to know what they are so you can quickly figure it out.

Building your confidence will help you feel much better.

how to get over a guy

How to Get Over a Guy | Honor Your Emotions

Too often, we try to stuff our emotions down and not feel them. We judge all emotions as wrong, especially if we really get caught up on them. But they aren’t wrong and it’s very important to feel them.

If you’ve read some of the other breakup articles on this site, you may have seen this analogy before. Emotions are like leaves floating down a stream. They approach you, then hang out in front of you for a while, then they float away.

Of course, the fear many people have is that they won’t float away. There is a fear that if you allow yourself to feel sad, you might not ever feel happy. But look at that statement – if you allow yourself to feel sad.

That’s the key! You are in control of what you feel and for how long. Envision that sadness floating away from you, just like it floated in. You can control when it leaves.

How to Heal from a Broken Heart | Do Something

I know you might not feel like going to lunch with a friend but do it anyway. Push yourself to re-engage in life with the people who love you. This is especially important if you’ve set aside those relationships in lieu of your relationship.

The odds are that when you get back home, you’ll feel better than you did before you left. Getting out and trying new things, meeting new people, and experiencing life again helps you start to feel as if life might become normal again.

How to Get Over a Guy | Take Good Care of Yourself

As you journey through the stages of grieving your relationship, remember to take care of yourself. It’s so easy to let yourself go, especially if you’re feeling really depressed. Keep your hygiene up, get up and get dressed every day, and take time to appreciate things around you, like the birds chirping, the beauty of falling snow, the smell of fresh rain, or whatever else is around you.

Be sure to eat a healthy diet and get some sort of exercise, even if it’s just a walk around the block. The walk will help dissipate some of those stress hormones and a healthy diet will keep your motor humming.

Take a bubble bath or go get a massage. You deserve to be taken care of, and there’s nobody better suited for the job than you. Practicing self-care reminds you that you are important too, not just those you love. It improves your self-worth and helps you feel less overwhelmed and anxious.

how to heal from a broken heart

How to Heal from a Broken Heart by Letting Go of the Past

It’s so easy to get stuck in the past, especially during a breakup. As you learned in the stages of grieving, there are times when your mind will naturally go back there.

If you and your ex get back together sometime in the future, it will be a new relationship. The old one was broken and it’s time to let it go. It’s time to let go of all the mistakes you feel you made, and it’s time to let go of the mistakes you believe he made too.

Nothing good comes from staying stuck in the past. In fact, it disables your ability to move into the future.

Take off the rose-colored glasses you’re wearing. See your ex and your relationship for what it was, whatever that is. He wasn’t perfect, and neither were you, but for a while, you seemed perfect for each other. That doesn’t mean you’re perfect for each other forever, though.

The key to acknowledging those thoughts is to treat them like those leaves going down the stream from before. Don’t judge them or apply any importance to them. Acknowledge them and let them pass. Witness them, but don’t apply any importance to them. See the thought and let it go. When you judge something, it brings negative emotions because your expectations weren’t met, so don’t judge. Just let it go on by.

How to Get Over a Guy | Turn Your Negative Thoughts into Positive

Breakups bring on a whirlwind of negative thoughts and negative self-talk. Instead of wallowing in all that negativity, make a list of good things you’ve done, either in your relationship or on your own.

  • I volunteer once a month to pack meals for Meals on Wheels
  • I made his breakfast when he was planning to have a big day at work
  • I always reminded him of important dates, like his mom’s birthday
  • I take time to help others when needed

You are more than your relationship experiences and your perceived mistakes. Some other things you can inject include:

  • I am enough
  • I’m perfect just as I am
  • I am not my mistakes

Work on letting go of the negative thoughts that are swirling around in your beautiful brain. You’re not that person.

How to Heal from a Broken Heart | Avoid Contact with Your Ex

The best thing you can do to heal and to get him back if you so desire is to break contact with your ex. There are a few bonuses to breaking contact, such as:

  • Allowing you time to put the relationship into perspective
  • Giving him time to get over his negative feelings about you and the relationship
  • Diminishing the importance of the relationship and breakup so you can heal
  • Focus on your own needs
  • Sever the bond between you (even if you want him back this must be done)
  • Give him time to miss you and appreciate your relationship again

There are other benefits as well, but those hit the highlights. If you want your guy to return to you, this is a must. If you want him to leave you alone, breaking contact gets the ball rolling.

If you and your ex share children, this can be tricky. If the communication between you is antagonistic, ask someone else to manage the handoff of children. It isn’t good for your kids to see this in the two of you and it isn’t healthy.

If you do have to see him, keep the conversations to the kids and not your relationship.

The same is true if you work together. Don’t discuss anything other than work and don’t allow any bitterness of the breakup to seep into your workplace. It’s unprofessional and will only hurt you in the long run.

how to heal from a broken heart

How to Get Over a Guy | Fall in Love with the Life You Have

It’s so easy to want a different life. Everyone wants more than they have, but why not be happy with where you are and what you have now? Your life isn’t really all about this loss, even though it feels like it is.

What is there in your life that’s good? Your job? Your dog? Your connection to family?

What do you want to accomplish? What goals do you have? Where would you like to go? Who would you like to be in your career or your personal life? What hobbies interest you? Are there causes you feel strongly about? How can you help?

Embrace life as a single woman. This empowers you to do whatever you want whenever you want. There’s nothing wrong with being single. In fact, it’s when you’re single that you can best prepare yourself for a new relationship.

At the bottom of the page is a great book to help you do this. Riding Solo is the book I wrote after hearing from so many women about being ashamed of being single or wanting to shed the stigma of being single.

How to Heal from a Broken Heart with Forgiveness

Forgiveness is something people often misunderstand. They say they don’t want to forgive someone because it makes what they did okay.

That isn’t what forgiveness is about. In fact, you don’t even need to tell your ex that you forgive him. When you forgive someone, you release the bitter feelings you are holding onto. You stop focusing so much energy on the negative feelings you have toward that person and you get all of that out of your head.

Being angry with someone takes up a lot of your energy. When you release them with forgiveness, you free up a lot of mental energy and wasted time.

People often say that when you hold onto anger, you’re allowing someone to live rent-free in your head and I think that’s a great way to think about it. How much longer are you willing to allow this person to poison your thoughts? Whether you realize it or not, it’s negatively impacting your life.

If you struggle to forgive him, write him a letter. You don’t even need to mail it. Just write it. Pour it all out onto the paper. Just be sure that you finish with “I forgive you.” Once you’re done, tear it up, shred it, or burn it in the fireplace. You’ll feel better!

How to Get Over a Guy | Wrap Up

Knowing how to heal from a broken heart helps you move forward into a healthier relationship. Once you’ve healed from the past, you can begin to see and experience a new, happier future.

Allowing yourself to feel the emotions that come along without judgment, and to let go of the past are two great steps that will take you a long way in your recovery, as will forgiveness.

These can each be difficult steps to take at first, but the more you practice, the better you’ll get, just like with anything else.

Get back out there and life your life. Find things to be passionate about and dig in. Develop or rekindle hobbies and practice regular self-care again.

Your next great relationship is out there waiting for you to sort it all out, but don’t worry, he’ll wait patiently!

Knowing how to not date a jerk includes embracing your single life and taking the time to become a confident, independent woman. Riding Solo, a book written specifically for women who want to do just that, walks you through overcoming the stigma of being single on to becoming that independent, confident woman. This places you in the best possible position to find and date wonderful, great men who are not jerks.

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