Identifying Healthy Relationships
We all aspire to have the perfect relationship, but what that means may vary from person to person. There is no such thing as a one size fits all when it comes to relationships, and indeed, what may work for one person would be a terrible fit for the other. That being said, there is a clear line between a healthy relationship and a toxic one. This line can become very difficult to distinguish; however, when love and family get added to the equation.
When you are in the throes of love, it feels like you have found the perfect partner that completes you in all the places you didn’t even know needed completing. They say all the right things, give you all the attention you want, and generally make you feel like the luckiest person in the world.
However, a healthy relationship is very different from an intense or even loving one. To have an understanding of what a healthy relationship looks like, you must know what a healthy relationship DOESN’T look like. Below are some of the things to look out for in a potential, or even existing partner.
Love Bombing
We all love the physical attention of love. And particularly during the ‘honeymoon’ stage of a new relationship, it’s normal to give and receive affection. But love bombing is a very different kettle of fish. This manipulative behaviour manifests itself in overwhelming attention by a partner, often very intensely and at the start of a relationship. Narcissists use love bombing as a means of manipulation, and as a strategy to get what they want. When you enjoy the attention of another person, it’s easy to go along with what might otherwise be slightly creepy. If you’re not sure whether you are experiencing this kind of manipulation, there are almost always other signs that the relationship you are in is not healthy.
Gaslighting & Healthy Relationships
Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation that is a particularly nasty form of control. It is, essentially, a way to make you think you are the crazy one in the relationship. Gaslighting, more specifically, refers to “the act of undermining another person’s reality by denying facts, the environment around them, or their feelings”. The targets of gaslighting are often not even aware that they are the victims in the situation, and as such, this form of emotional violence.
Physical or Emotional Violence
The most obvious form of abuse is physical, and violence in any relationship should never be tolerated. Finding people you can trust, family and friends to confide in, and a domestic violence attorney, are some of the first things you should do if you are a victim of domestic violence.
Domestic violence isn’t just physical, however, and can take many forms. Threatening words is also a form of emotional abuse that falls into the domestic violence category.
There are many reasons relationships can fail, and sometimes it’s for the best. However, it is better to find the right relationship for you, rather than stay in an unhealthy, toxic relationship.
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