Although leaving a toxic relationship might feel like the most difficult task in the world, it’s not the hardest part. What follows can often be far worse than what your toxic partner has put you through. You’ll face terrible struggles and difficulties in your life that can make every day feel like you’re in the midst of a war.
If you’ve recently left a toxic partner, you have a long road ahead of you still. These are 8 terrible ways a toxic relationship will destroy your life.
1. You’ll Feel Isolated
When you and your partner were together, you stopped seeing friends and family as often as you would have before. They may have forced you not to socialize or manipulated you into spending all of your time alone. Even when the relationship ends, you’ll have trouble seeing people again because you’ll feel guilty or unworthy.
2. You Self Esteem Will Lower
Your toxic partner made you feel worthless. They belittled you, put you down, and manipulated you to feel horrible about yourself. Those feelings don’t go away so easily. The emotional abuse that you went through will stay with you for a while longer, taking away any confidence that you had before.
3. You Won’t Feel Comfortable Sharing Your Opinion
Everything in your old relationship was about what your partner wanted and what they thought was right. They didn’t give any value to your opinion and never gave you the chance to speak up. Now, you’ll still have trouble sharing your thoughts with people. You’ll worry that your opinions aren’t important or that people will judge you for them.
4. You’ll Feel Guilty Constantly
Your ex was a master at getting inside of your head and making you bend to their will. They made you feel guilty for every little thing that you did, even if it would seem harmless to most people. Guilt may become your go-to reaction, even after the relationship has ended. The simplest things will make you feel horribly guilty.
5. You’ll Be Quick to Anger
Being with such an evil partner has left you stuck in defense mode. You’re used to needing to defend yourself from nasty remarks and verbal abuse. Spotting when other people are being genuine or trying to hurt you will be difficult for you for some time. This difficulty will cause you to lash out at the people you love, even if you don’t mean to.
6. You Won’t Be Able To Trust People Easily
All your time was spent with someone who used you and treated you like trash. Now that you’ve gotten them out of your life, you don’t want it to ever happen again. Letting new people get close to you will be near impossible for a while. You’ll even begin to become suspicious of people that you’ve always been close with.
7. You’ll Feel Unwell
Stress can cause a lot of unwanted physical and mental symptoms. Toxic relationships cause a severe amount of stress and can even give some people PTSD. For a long time, you will feel emotionally and physically sick from the amount of distress that you’re in.
8. You Will Fear for Your Future
With all of these nasty things happening in your life, it’s only natural that you’d worry. You’ll fear for the future that lies ahead, scared that it might only get worse and not better. Instead of being happy that you left the relationship, you’ll worry that it will never get easier and that you’re doomed to be in a string of toxic relationships.
Finding the strength to leave a toxic partner is only the first hurdle that you will need to overcome. After that, you will have to face the demons that will follow you afterward. Don’t give up hope and keep fighting. If you were strong enough to leave the relationship, you are strong enough to move on. One day, all of this will be a distant memory and you will return to a happy life.
Share this article with someone who has left a toxic relationship to give them the strength that they need to keep fighting.
