5 of the Most Awful Signs of One-Sided Relationships
Some hurtful things people face in an unbalanced relationship.
An unbalanced relationship is nothing but energy draining.
When you’re in an unbalanced or one-sided relationship, you’ll end up with feelings of frustration, resentment, and worse, it can even have huge consequences on your emotional health.
The truth is, we all feel frustrated with our partners and relationships from time to time.
There’s no point pretending that your relationship is sweet and cool all the time because it’s even weird to never feel frustrated with your relationship or partner.
But there’s a difference between temporary and justified frustrations and an endless roller coaster of frustration.
For instance, relationships can be frustrating when two people live together due to coping with bills, little household matters, schedules, weird habits, etc.
In any of such cases, your feeling of frustration or anything of such nature is quite normal and coming from a reasonable place.
But that’s not the kind of frustration we are talking about here.
We are talking about an endless feeling that leaves you feeling constantly disturbed, devastated, and even resentful towards your partner.
1. You feel insecure like you’re inadequate.
Having a sense of value and worth in a relationship isn’t always easy, especially if your needs are endlessly being treated like they aren’t important.
The problem is that people in one-sided relationships sometimes end up feeling like they aren’t good enough.
They end up blaming their perceived inadequacy for all the imbalances in their relationship.
They justify their partners’ indifference and lack of effort thinking that if they’re good enough, their partners will certainly treat them better.
And they end up making the mistake of slaving their ass off, compromising, tolerating, and sacrificing excessively at the expense of their self-value, self-worth, and self-esteem.
The problem with being in such kinds of relationships is that it keeps you in the bondage of insecurity where you believe you don’t deserve to enjoy the kinds of relationships you so desire.
Relationships are so much easier if you truly believe that you’re worth a lot.
That you deserve love and affection.
And that you aren’t undeserving of the most fundamental things life has to offer.
When someone accommodates, justifies, and conforms to standards they don’t have to because they think they aren’t good enough to be treated any better, it often means their one-sided relationship has ruined their self-worth and value.
They might have been wondering for a long time why their partners don’t put in the same amount of effort but figured that it was as a result of their inadequacy.
Hence, they constantly try their hardest, put in their all, and blame their inadequacy for their partners’ lack of effort.
2. Your partner listens to you selectively.
Instead of feeling heard, seen, and connected to their partners, people in one-sided relationships sometimes end up feeling alone and frustrated with their partners’ selective hearing communication patterns.
And they may end up feeling like they’re having the same conversations over and over again since issues hardly get settled in a single conversation, again, as a result of their partners’ indifferent communication patterns.
We are living in an age where communication is quite difficult and the act of genuine listening is a thing of the old.
Most people are often driven at high speed into the harmful habit of hearing only part of what someone’s saying—mostly what’s important to them by their insecurities, inattention, triggers, and because they sometimes listen to respond rather than listening to understand.
The problem is that even the best relationship can suffer huge setbacks as a result of this awful communication pattern.
Because it sabotages relationships by ruining connections that are supposed to be fostered by effective communication.
By constantly cherry-picking what they want to hear, indifferent partners only suck their partners’ energy dry.
If it ever seems to you like your partner only appears to be hearing what they deem important to them while paying little or no attention to any other thing you’re saying, it likely means that you’re in a one-sided relationship.
And it becomes worst when tough discussions or even ordinary ones, for instance, following through little promises or commitments like promises to call back later, etc, can quickly become frustrating.
Also read: 11 Secrets Even the Most Loyal Partners Keep — Are You in the Dark?
3. You try too hard to conceal the unpleasant truths about your relationship.
If someone’s trying too hard to hide, sweeten, or whitewash their relationship to their loved ones, that’s probably because of two different reasons:
They’re so obsessed with how their relationship measures against that of others, so they make it seem really great.
Or they’re so embarrassed about some unpleasant facts or truths about their relationship, so they try to sweeten it.
In our privacy-driven world, we all are advised to be extremely cautious with what we share with others about our relationships.
Hence, we are all wary of oversharing and disrespecting our partners and even our relationships.
But a lot of people go too far with the whole thing and even try too hard to hide or sweeten things they aren’t supposed to.
This strong urge to hide, whitewash, or sugarcoat the unpleasant aspects of a relationship like a partner’s abusive, toxic, or even indifferent behaviors as the case may be, is a terrible sign of a stressful or one-sided relationship.
When you’re trying your hardest, putting in your all for the betterment of your relationship while your partner does almost nothing, it’s easy to believe that it is one of those things about your relationship you aren’t supposed to share with a loved one.
But that’s not true.
You can open up to a trusted friend, relative, or even a mental health professional about any ill-treatment you’re receiving from your partner. Because it may provide you with some much-needed clarity. Plus, assist you in getting the help that will allow you to safely leave the relationship.
4. Their needs are the focus of the relationship, yours are not.
People who are in one-sided relationships always find their needs swept under the carpet because their partners don’t care as much as they do.
Their partners never sacrifice anything important to them. Worse, their partners only come in contact when they want something, and won’t be accessible in times of similar need.
The problem with being in such kinds of relationships is that they’re energy-draining, exhausting, overwhelming, and tiring for the self-sacrificing partner since he or she will be the only person investing more time, energy, efforts, and even emotional support than the other.
The very best relationships are the ones in which both parties involved genuinely care and even make sacrifices for each other’s needs.
You don’t deserve to be in a one-sided relationship. Instead, you deserve to be in a relationship where responsibilities are shared by both parties to nurture and keep the relationship thriving.
There is no point in being with someone who doesn’t care for your needs. Be with someone who will care, support, and put in the same amount effort for the betterment of the relationship.
Discover: Signs You Are in a Situationship and Wasting Your Time on the Wrong Person
5. You’re overly cautious about the interactions you initiate.
We all know the importance of effective, efficient, and even thorough communication in romantic relationships.
Yet, there are always people who can’t afford to discuss every topic with their partners because they don’t want to upset their partners.
If someone’s in a one-sided relationship, they may have it rough talking about certain topics with their partners so as not to trigger unpleasant reactions from their partners.
As a result, they may only ‘settle’ for interactions within the comfort of their partners.
People who are in balanced relationships, usually tend to be very free to discuss just about any topic with their partners than those who are extremely cautious about the interactions they initiate because their partners aren’t into them enough to care about what they really care about.
If someone’s consistently weary of talking about certain things with their partner to avoid conflicts or cold reactions, they’re probably in a one-sided relationship.
Avoiding certain topics that are perceived as conflict triggers or something else, might sound like a smart dating mechanism, but the reality is that you’re reinforcing that what matters to you aren’t of any importance just as your indifferent partner makes things seem.
You can try so well to avoid those interactions and prevent conflicts or something like that, but can’t avoid the sadness of not being able to talk about what really matters to you. That’s why you don’t have to. Because self-aware people will rather leave the relationship than be treated like they don’t matter.
