How to Successfully Move on from a Toxic Relationship
Be yourself and don’t let anybody change you.
What is a toxic relationship?
Dr. Lillian Glass, a California-based communication and psychology expert who says she coined the term in her 1995 book Toxic People, defines a toxic relationship as “any relationship [between people who] don’t support each other, where there’s conflict and one seeks to undermine the other, where there’s competition, where there’s disrespect and a lack of cohesiveness.”
I am still coming to terms with the after-effects of a toxic relationship and the mental scars run deep.
I am not a relationship counselor, but having lived through a toxic relationship for a decade and the aftermath which lasted for a further four years, I feel qualified to write about my experience.
Despite warning signals from family and friends, I refused to accept that the relationship was toxic. Looking back, I cannot believe how naïve I was. The relationship was not only toxic, but the toxicity leaked into my wider circle of family and friends. Eventually, there was just the two of us in a bubble cut off from the rest of the world, which, of course, was his sole intention. To control me 100%, to keep me within his grasp, and to control every single aspect of my life without…
