mind. Most people are self-serving, and not setting boundaries and methods of self-protection will make you a feeding ground for toxic individuals.
For most of my life, I let friends, partners, and family walk all over me. I was the “nice” girl, the “dependable” friend, who didn’t ask for anything in return and thought that providing love, trust, and reliability meant I would get it.
You have no obligation to keep anyone in your life, especially someone that wants to keep you as an option in the future.
A relationship timeline doesn’t need to pertain to marriage. But what if you expect a commitment from someone to be monogamous within a few months? What if you have been dating for five years and haven’t met your partner’s family?
Your partner can’t be everything at once; an intimate relationship is different from a friendship.
When a toxic/manipulative person identifies that you are done with their abuse, they will not be thrilled. They may pull out their final card trick, threatening self-harm if you leave them.
Suddenly his demeanor changed, and he became more somber. “My wife doesn’t get me these days.” Perhaps he was expecting me to divulge something about my husband and a lack (he hoped) of communication and affection. I remained silent, and he smiled, reached his hand over, and slowly squeezed my upper thigh affectionately.
At least half of the group answered incorrectly, with their girlfriends beside them. Yes, the video could have been staged, but be honest: oversights or lack of attention to seemingly effortless details can be earth-shattering.
Scheduling intimacy as a whole may seem a bit boring in theory, but the reality is that you have to make time for it, or else you may start feeling less connected to your partner. It can give you something to look forward to because if you take the time to have open conversations, you may learn something new about the other person’s personal preferences.