Relationships aren’t easy. Too many couples throw in the towel because they don’t know how to handle the inevitable rough patches. Even worse, these breakups cause the satisfaction of your “well-intentioned” friends who’ve had bad feelings about your man since you started dating. The smugness of your close friends is something no one should have to experience. To avoid ever being wrong on romance again, here are tips on how to weather the seemingly never-ending storms of your relationship just to prove your friends wrong.
Trust Your Instincts
Just because your best friends have known you for over a decade, doesn’t mean they know you better than your on-again-off-again boyfriend of two-and-a-half months. Yes, there have been ups and downs (of which you friends constantly remind you), but that uncertain feeling in your stomach is normal! Especially when your boyfriend doesn’t fully cook the chicken he lovingly made after you threatened to leave. Get in touch with your inner-self. Learn to ignore external factors like peer pressure and possible food poisoning. Right now your gut is telling you that taking your boyfriend to Susan’s wedding will give you the perfect opportunity to show off your perfect relationship to Daryn and Jessica.
Focus On The Positive
Sometimes, we need to remind ourselves of our partner’s positive qualities. Reframing so-called “red flags” your friends go on about can get you one step closer to proving them wrong. Daryn said that your boyfriend hit on her and your sister at the same block party. Instead of taking that as a warning sign, appreciate how much he loves your friends and family. No one talks about how weird it is Jessica’s pediatrician husband sees kids on a daily basis at work. Except your boyfriend who’s made impromptu, inappropriate jokes about it on several occasions. Of course, the main positive quality about your man is that your relationship is proof your BFFs are completely and utterly wrong about who you should be with. You’ll have a lot of time to dwell on his positive qualities because he’s late to pick you up again.
Think Long-Term
Figuring out your priorities now can save you regret later. In old age, do you want to waste your days in a happy, emotionally fulfilling place at the cost of letting your friends win? Or do you want to toil onward in this toxic, borderline abusive relationship to have the ultimate satisfaction of knowing you were right and they were wrong? How important is the quality of your last years on Earth compared to the arbitrary superiority you’ll feel over your friends? Seems like you already know the answer.
We hope this advice helps you in your long, loooong journey ahead. Trust your gut, lean on your inner optimist, and try to remember what you’re really fighting for: alienating the people who have your best interests at heart. This next phase will be the hardest. Your friends will start distancing themselves from you after having enough of your absolutely unbearable boyfriend. But that just means you’re on the right track. Congrats on having what it takes to put your relationship above your happiness, mental health, and safety, simply to prove to your friends that they had it wrong all along.
