Women have been conditioned to stay in relationships that are way past their sell-by date. We rationalize poor behavior by making excuses for him. We spend hours trawling through Google to try and find out why he is treating us badly. We turn to strangers on Reddit for answers, secretly hoping that these strangers will validate our belief that the relationship is salvageable. We continue to remain in bad partnerships in the hope that his bad behavior is just a rough patch and brighter days are ahead.

Engaging in such mental gymnastics (for which there is no gold medal) makes us lose sight of what a good relationship is meant to feel like. A good relationship should feel effortless majority of the time. It should add to your life in a positive way. You should not spend hours and hours being an emotional firefighter or feeling like you are constantly in couple's therapy. If a relationship is making you feel less than happy, end it. Women often feel like they need to have a "good" reason to end a relationship, when that's not the case. Not feeling a relationship anymore is a good enough reason. Not wanting to be in a relationship anymore is also a good reason. Learn to trust your feelings. Once I started internalizing the fact I can, and should, leave relationships that do not make me happy majority of the time, it became much easier to leave dead relationships. You only have one life to live - do not waste it with people who make you feel bad most of the time.