Oh, I’m not at all implying I was a perfect partner. I surely had my own shortcomings — shortcomings that I wouldn’t have had a problem apologizing for and owning up to if he’d pointed them out constructively rather than aggressively.

It wasn’t that he had a lot of faults, but his biggest one was his inability to talk to me without getting angry or hostile. We couldn’t resolve those issues because he’d just blow up, so small things started to pile up. I tried my best to be patient and calm whenever I spoke. I reassured him that I wasn’t attacking him — he admitted that his past relationship was quite toxic, hence his aggressive behavior.

It takes two to tango, for sure. I was willing to own up to my mistakes and was hoping he would, too, but he never really did and I didn’t want to put up with that.