7 Damaging Effects of a Toxic Relationship

We, humans, long for one thing in our lives the most, and it's to feel connected and understood by another person. It doesn't matter how much money we earn or what we achieve in our professional life; if we are not happy in our personal life, we are never going to attain true happiness. So, the ultimate goal of our life is to find someone that understands us. Most of the time, a lot of us are fixated on finding our "soulmates." We spend years trying to get the equation right, constantly changing the variables in hopes of obtaining the right output. However, when it comes down to reality, we have to understand there is no such thing as a balanced equation. There are no soulmates. You have to understand that instead of finding a soulmate for yourself, you should find someone you can marginally bear, stick your fingers into them, and hold them for dear life.

Relationships are a very tricky thing. Love is one of the hardest emotions to understand as sometimes the person we confide all our secrets to, a person who we truly believe will never leave our side, leave us stranded. We might not even realize it, but the person whom we used to love the most turns out to be the person who hurts us the most. So, if you are dealing with something similar, you must take some vital steps to undo the adverse effects of a toxic relationship. With that being said, here are seven ways a toxic relationship can affect you and your life and turn it into a living hell.

It Makes You Pessimistic
Remember the times when you used to think that you have found the one and your life is going to be sunshine and rainbows? Well, if you stay in a toxic relationship, all your optimism and joy is going to turn south. Even if you have already cut ties with a person, a bad relationship can have demeaning effects that last for a while. You might find yourself being more cynical towards love and relationships, or you even give up on finding your significant other. Your general perception of life is going to take a toll as you will start feeling more lonely, sad, and guilty. However, you have to understand that being alone is better than being in a toxic relationship, and there is so much to look forward to in life.

It Makes You Moody
If you are going through a toxic relationship, you might already have trouble staying happy. When you are in a toxic relationship, your whole life gets disrupted as you might be fighting with your partner 24/7. Living in such a negative environment might instill some negativity into you, which makes you moody. You will often go through the feeling that there is a dark cloud looming over you all the time and that everything is going against you. If you are living in such an environment, you have to put yourself first and make some changes in your life. Even after talking with your partner and trying everything to solve the issue, nothing is working for you; you should contact a professional like the San Diego Divorce Lawyer. It is always better to be a little selfish and do something for your mental good instead of trying to make it work when it isn't.

It Mentally Exhausts You
One of the worst things about toxic relationships is that it takes the best from a person and reduces it down to zero. A sign of a toxic relationship is that only one person is pitching in all the effort to make it work. When a single person is making all the effort, it can take a pretty negative toll on his mental health. As he is spending all his time and energy into making sure that the other person is okay instead of taking care of himself, it sucks the happiness out of them. Your whole life becomes such a rollercoaster with all the drama going on that it becomes exhausting only being the near person. So, instead of exhausting yourself to the point that your will to live fades away, you need to get away from such a situation and work on your mental peace.

It Destroys Your Self-Esteem
The way we treat our relationships tells a lot about who we are as a person. If the relationship is healthy, both of the partners will treat each other by supporting and uplifting them. In such an environment, even if there is something troubling you in your professional life, you will have the peace of mind that there is a person waiting for you at home who will listen to everything you have to say without judging you. On the other hand, if you are living in a toxic relationship, it means that your partner won't support you the way you should be supported. When the other person doesn't care about you, you will feel the same about yourself, and that is the worst feeling in the world. You will believe that you are not worth it, and you will keep feeling bad about yourself. When you are constantly riddled with these feelings, you will not find the love you seek, and it will bring your self-esteem down to the lowest levels.

It Hinders Your Personal Growth
The way our relationship should work is that both of the partners should work together and achieve their goals by helping each other. If you are always putting your partner before yourself without receiving the same thing yourself, you will be left far behind in life. You will dedicate all your time and love to the other person, and he will ignore you like you don't even exist. When you have to deal with such things, not only do you feel unloved, but you start realizing that you are living your life without any purpose. As the other person controls and dominates you, you will have no control of your choices, and the decision you make will be purely based on what the other person wants and not what you want for yourself.

It Destroys Your Future Relationships
Humans are all about the experiences that they have. When a person has to deal with a toxic relationship, not only does he suffer in the present, but it also changes his perspective of life. If that person had a positive idea of love going into the relationship, a toxic one is going to destroy every notion of love he had in mind. A toxic relationship shakes a person to his core and makes you believe that you probably deserved it. It doesn't only destroy your self-esteem, but it also makes you question whether you are ready for future relationships or not. Most people develop a very toxic behavior due to a toxic relationship in which they aggressively keep putting themselves in similar situations and seek similar dysfunctional relationships in the future.

It Negatively Affects Your Physical Appearance
People going through a toxic relationship have reported having increased blood pressure, insomnia, muscle tension, and lowered immune function. As you are constantly trying to make the situation work, which puts stress on your mind, it also affects your physical health. On top of the psychological side effects that you have to suffer from, you don't also pay attention to your physical appearance as it becomes a secondary thing to you. Our body also secrets certain chemicals and hormones like adrenaline and cortisol. Prolonged exposure to such hormones affects your body negatively and puts the body in the state of fight or flight. The internal organs such as the liver, digestive system, and the reproductive system start operating differently and respond to the stress.

Conclusion
Where human connection is a very vital thing, and most of us make it our top priority, we have to remember that no matter how old we get or how lonely we are, we have to put ourselves first. You have to remember that you will never be able to achieve true happiness if you are not happy with yourself. I have seen a lot of people try to fit themselves in relationships they don't feel comfortable in. They seem very eager to find the love of their life, and instead of doing that, they end up being in toxic relationships that affect them in a severe way.

In the end, despite knowing and understanding that you are in a toxic relationship, you are too emotionally invested in the other person, and it becomes very hard for you to let them go. But, for the sake of your mental health and for your physical well-being, you have to take some detrimental steps. It's hard to admit that despite giving our all, the people we love don't love us the same way. So, if you want to be truly happy, you have to let them go for your own good.