When a relationship crisis hits, all you can do is wonder if you’re approaching the end of the relationship. You overanalyze things and start asking yourself: How do you know when a relationship is over?
Are there some red flags that you should pay close attention to? Or do you simply let go of it because you feel that something’s wrong?
Sometimes, this feeling is temporary and fades away with time.
Other times, you can’t ignore the gut feeling that keeps telling you that your significant other might not be the person you’re meant to end up with.
It’s hard to accept the fact that your once-serious relationship is falling apart. It’s tough to admit that you no longer feel the same way about the person you used to love more than anything.
You convince yourself that it’s only a rough patch and that things will be fine with time, but if you’re honest with yourself, you know it’s a lie.
Your current relationship doesn’t feel right anymore, and no matter how hard you try to ignore it, deep down, you know the truth.
Even though it’s hard to accept the reality of the situation, for the sake of your well-being, you should learn how to recognize the signs that your relationship is over.
This way you can deal with the consequences in a healthy way and be prepared to let go and move on without feeling that your life is falling apart.
How do you know when a relationship is over?
Sometimes, you need to see the warning signs right in front of you to know that your relationship has hit a dead end.
If your relationship feels different and you sense something’s wrong, then keep on reading.
These are the dealbreakers when it comes to relationships. Once you notice them, your relationship is probably over and you should end things and move on with your life.
That’s always better than staying in a loveless relationship.
Here’s how to know if your relationship is truly over and it’s not just a bump in the road.
1. You fight all the time
How do you know when a relationship is over if not by the way you act toward each other?
And when the majority of your time together is spent fighting, you know that something’s definitely off.
In the beginning, everything was awesome.
You enjoyed each other’s company and hardly ever fought. Now, things have taken a major turn for the worse.
Fights and disagreements have become the norm. For the last couple of months, there hasn’t been a day where you two haven’t fought.
It’s come to the point where you don’t feel like going home because you know you’ll inevitably have a fallout, and you simply don’t have the energy for it anymore.
It’s clear that your relationship is fragile and might not be as long-term as you expected it to.
The ground is shaky and if you don’t do something about it, your relationship will soon crumble.
2. There’s no communication
Communication is one of the cornerstones of every healthy relationship.
Once you’ve stopped communicating, you don’t even have to wonder if your relationship is over.
You already know that you don’t stand the best chances of it lasting.
You have no desire to express your feelings and let your partner know what’s on your mind.
When something bothers you, you have no energy to start a fight because you don’t see the point.
Nothing seems to be worth it anymore so you just keep quiet, hoping that things will somehow work themselves out.
But, deep down, you know that there’s no escape from this. You’re just too tired to make a move, since nothing seems to make sense anymore.
3. You feel like your partner’s presence drains you
Spending time together used to be the only thing that kept you going.
You knew that once you come home from a long day at work, your partner would be waiting for you and everything would be just fine.
Now, it’s the other way around.
Instead of feeling excited to spend time with your partner, you look for ways to stay longer at work just so you’re not around him as much.
And when the one who used to make you the happiest person in the world now makes you feel drained, you know where you’re standing.
So, if you’re looking for the answer to whether or not your relationship is over, ask yourself this: Do you look for ways to spend as little time as possible with your partner because he drains the energy out of you?
You don’t need to be a relationship expert to notice that the end is closer than ever.
4. You no longer trust your partner
Where there’s no trust, there’s also no possibility of having a healthy and committed relationship.
And right now, you feel that all of the trust you had for your partner has evaporated into the thin air.
You don’t trust your partner about anything anymore.
Every time he shares something with you, your inside voice is screaming that he’s talking nonsense.
So, you ignore his words and don’t believe his stories.
But sooner or later, you know that you won’t be able to keep quiet and you’ll have to tell him that you no longer trust a word that comes out of his mouth.
Maybe your partner feels the same way about you, but even if it’s only one-sided, know that your relationship is clearly on its last legs.
Everyone around you probably sees that except for you as you’re still pretending that things are fixable.
But at one point, when your stress levels reach through the roof, you won’t be able to pretend anymore.
It’s then that you’ll walk out with no intention of coming back.
5. You daydream about being single
You know that your relationship is over when your daydreams are better than your reality.
And right now, you’re daydreaming of being single, living a life on your own.
And this hasn’t happened only once. Instead, it’s becoming a regular occurrence.
You’ve been imagining your single life, thinking about ways to impress other guys, and fantasizing about days when you’ll come home and your partner won’t be around.
While these thoughts may only be a part of your imagination, they all go to show how unhappy you are in your current relationship.
You’re looking for a way out and since you’re still not sure if you should break up, you found comfort in your imagination.
Right now, your daydreams are the only thing that keeps you moving forward and, trust me, that’s not the way it’s supposed to be.
Be honest with yourself. Are you still in love with your partner or are all of the feelings you used to have for him long gone?
6. You’re not excited to share good news with your partner
Our partners are usually the first people we run to when we have good news to share.
But you don’t even think about your partner when something exciting happens to you.
Instead of calling him right away to tell him the good news, you completely forget about his existence.
Only after you’ve shared the news with everyone else does he pop up in your mind and you tell him only because you feel like you’re supposed to.
All of the other reasons are practically non-existent.
If this is how you’re feeling, then you should know that your relationship is practically over, and unless you do something about it, there’s zero chance of saving it.
7. You only see your partner’s flaws
When you fall in love with someone, you ignore all of their bad qualities and focus on the good ones.
Later on, as your relationship moves forward, you accept every aspect of your partner’s personality.
But right now, when you look at your partner, you feel like there’s nothing good about him.
It feels like all of his strengths are erased and you can only focus on the negative aspects of his personality.
When speaking with your family or friends, you’ve been finding it harder to find a couple of nice words to describe your partner.
All you can think of are his flaws because there’s nothing else that you see.
This is how you know a relationship is over.
And from this point of view, it’s better to end the relationship than to keep trash-talking the man you’re supposed to grow old with.
8. You no longer agree about anything
It’s completely normal that, over time, you and your partner grow and change your opinions. It means that you’re working on yourself.
But if it seems that the two of you are headed in completely different directions, then it may be time to end things for good.
All couples have disagreements. There are always some things that they don’t agree on, and that’s perfectly fine.
But when you reach the point where you’re constantly pulling in different directions, your relationship becomes a burden instead of satisfying.
You know that your relationship is over when the only thing you can agree on is that you can’t agree on anything.
9. You don’t talk about the future anymore
Planning your future together is a good sign that you want to grow together as a couple.
But once you realize that this aspect of your relationship is missing, you start questioning whether you and your partner are actually meant to be together.
Having plans for the future is an important aspect of every healthy relationship.
You want to move through life together, which means that you have to make some plans on how you imagine your future to be.
But lately, this part of your relationship is missing.
The two of you keep avoiding the big talk, and on the surface, it seems that there’s no right reason for that.
But, deep inside, you know that you can’t imagine spending the rest of your life with your partner.
When you try to picture it in your head, your whole body cringes.
If this sounds like you, then know that your relationship is over.
You can keep pretending that everything is fine while having a panic attack every time you think of living with your partner until death do you part.
Or, you can move on with your life and save yourself and your partner the pain of being in a loveless relationship.
It’s up to you to make the right choice.
10. You’re interested in other people
When a guy sees an attractive girl, it’s normal that he’ll appreciate how nice she looks.
The same applies to women. When she sees a good-looking guy, she’ll think how attractive he is.
We’re visual creatures and enjoy looking at nice things.
But it’s one thing to think that someone is attractive.
It’s a whole other ballgame to start becoming interested in other guys while you’re already in a relationship.
These two things have nothing in common.
Are you still asking yourself how do you know when your relationship is over?
Well, the answer is that it’s over once another person sparks more interest in you than your own partner.
Once you start fantasizing about other guys or trying to get to know them better, know that the end of your relationship is approaching.
You’re already emotionally cheating on him the moment you prefer spending time with another and look for ways to show them how you feel about them.
11. You spend less time together
When you look back, you realize that you and your partner used to have your rituals.
There were some things you always did together, no matter what.
Maybe Friday was your date night, and no matter how busy you were, you always made the effort not to skip it.
Or perhaps you loved going hiking together on the weekends and enjoyed taking long walks before sunset.
But now, you’re always going your own ways and you’ve completely forgotten about doing things together.
You don’t even sit together in the same room. Unconsciously, you make sure to be alone as much as you can.
This is how you know when a relationship is over.
You spend very little time together and look for ways to stay away from each other’s company.
Even when you’re free and have time for each other, you make sure to avoid it by rather inviting your friends or family over, or going out.
It feels that your partner is at the bottom of your list of priorities and you’re not even feeling sorry about it.
The only thing you feel is the relief that you don’t have to spend time with him as often as you used to (or should).
12. One of you is refusing to seek help
Couple’s therapy has always been a great way to help fix a troubled relationship.
But even though you’re struggling, one of you still doesn’t want to seek help.
And usually, the person who’s anti having things fixed is the one who’s already over the relationship.
When there’s no motivation to move forward and get your relationship back on track, know that the end is right around the corner.
If you or your partner refuses to seek help, it means that you don’t want to fix what’s broken.
In that case, know that your relationship is over, as one of you sees no point in repairing the damage.
13. You stay in the relationship only because it’s convenient
When you stay in a relationship out of convenience, you should know that your relationship is, for all intents and purposes, already over.
Financial security, being used to one another, or fear of being alone – none of these are good enough reasons to be with someone.
They’re only external factors that make you be with someone out of convenience.
And that isn’t love.
You shouldn’t look for reasons why you should be with someone, you should know in your heart that the person beside you is the only one you want to be with.
Because if you don’t, know that your relationship is over.
When you start analyzing the pros and cons of being with someone and you choose to stay only because it’s more convenient at the time, that’s a surefire sign that you’re going down the wrong path.
At that point, love, respect, and loyalty are all replaced with convenience. And healthy relationships aren’t based on convenience.
14. You don’t miss each other anymore
Before, you couldn’t go a day without each other.
You missed each other’s presence and it felt like a part of you was missing when the other person wasn’t around.
Now, it’s a completely different story.
When your partner goes away, you don’t even notice him gone. You go on with your life, forgetting to text him to see how he’s doing.
You could go days or even weeks without talking to each other, which is a sign in itself.
And when he comes back, you realize that you never even felt he wasn’t there.
There were no feelings that suggested that you missed him and wanted him right next to you.
You might have even reached the point where you can’t wait for him to be gone again just so you can enjoy your time alone, without having him around.
That’s how far you’ve come.
At this stage, you don’t need me to tell you how to know when a relationship is over.
You can already see that what you have isn’t a relationship.
All that left is two people staying together because they’re used to it. You may as well call yourselves roommates and nothing more.
It would be a good thing to take a break and ask yourself what you expect from this relationship.
Is it really for the long-run or would you be better off alone?
15. You prioritize other people over him
What happens when you keep choosing others instead of your partner?
What happens when you put him on the bottom of your list of priorities while everyone else is way above him?
Is that how you know the relationship is over?
It’s perfectly fine to have other people in your life. You can’t isolate yourself completely and focus only on your partner.
But when your partner becomes less important to you than other people, that’s when you’re facing an issue.
Right now, instead of spending time with your partner because you finally have some free time, you’ve made plans with your friends.
Instead of having a romantic weekend getaway, you’ve already planned to go to visit your family, even though you’ve seen them the week before.
You constantly choose others over your partner and it’s come to the point where you purposely ignore him because you can’t stand being in his company.
If that’s not a good enough sign that your relationship is coming to an end, then I don’t know what is.
16. Your gut feeling tells you something is wrong
Believe it or not, your body feels your emotions way before your brain does.
It’s because you keep suppressing these feelings and you prevent them from reaching your mind.
But your body knows that you haven’t been acting yourself for the last couple of months.
It knows the feeling that eats you alive every time you have to spend time with your partner.
Deep down, you already know that your relationship is over and your body is simply reacting to that.
There are mood changes, a change in body language, and a general feeling in your gut that something’s off.
You haven’t told anyone that you feel your relationship is coming to an end.
You and your partner still haven’t talked about it, yet your body senses that something’s different.
If you’ve been feeling this way, you should listen to your body. It knows you best and recognizes every change that occurs in you.
That tiny little voice on the inside that keeps telling you that something’s off isn’t lying. You better listen to it if you want to help yourself.
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