Many things may impact your quality of life: your career, financial choices, diet, or mental health. We accept that many of the choices we make are solely ours, and therefore we take responsibility for how they affect our lives.

However, have you ever considered that your dating choices might be affecting your life as well? It’s true-your relationship can have many impacts on your personal life, and hopefully, they’re mostly positive.

Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case; is it possible that your dating choices are negatively impacting your mental and physical health? Let’s take a closer look.

Are You a Partner or Parent?

When you enter a relationship, you typically do so with the hope that your partner will bring out the best in you. Sometimes, however, they may bring out the worst instead.

Does your partner’s behavior make you feel sad, anxious, or constantly worried? Do you feel like you always have to be the responsible one in your relationship? Remember, you should aim to have equal emotional contributions with your partner, so you aren’t the one picking up the pieces every time.

If you feel more like a parent than an equal partner in your relationship, something needs to change. It’s not fair for you to always look out for your partner but never get the same support in return.

Dating Choices May Affect Your Mental Health

Bad relationships can affect your mental health in many ways. If your partner is putting you down or dismissing your feelings, you may become depressed over time. Or, if your partner always seems to pick fights, you may become anxious over the anticipation of the next one.

You cannot thrive in a relationship when the other person offers no stability. It’s easy to convince yourself that it’s merely a rough patch, but negative behavior may be cropping up much more often than you initially realize.

Your Physical Health May Be Affected, Too

Along with mental health, a bad relationship can affect your physical health as well. If your relationships cause you a considerable amount of stress, you may begin to experience physical symptoms. Insomnia, loss of appetite, headaches, fatigue, or digestive issues are all examples of symptoms that depression or anxiety can cause.

You may also notice that your mental and physical health strongly coincide-when you feel good mentally, you tend to feel good physically, as well. When you don’t feel good mentally, you don’t feel physically well either. If you’ve been feeling worn down due to stress, your relationship may be the real culprit.

Other Ways Your Life May Be Affected

Bad dating choices can inevitably affect your overall health. However, they may also affect other aspects of your life. Is your partner jealous when you go out with friends? Do they want you to spend all of your time with them? Not only are these behaviors challenging to deal with, but they’re huge red flags.

Even when you’re in a relationship, personal growth and well-being are still essential. You cannot drop every other aspect of your life to appease your partner. You’ll only end up isolated, depressed, and likely very unhappy in your relationship.

Consciously Making Better Choices

After reading through this, you may be concerned about some of the dating choices you’ve made. Many people aren’t aware that their relationships could have such a negative impact on their well-being. Now that you are aware, however, you can work to make better choices.

Consider your past relationships, and note any similarities in your partners. Why did the relationships end? What do you wish they would’ve done differently? Don’t be too hard on yourself-all you can do is learn from your past as you move forward. The next time you go on a date, however, remember how much it can affect your well-being in the long run!

If you believe your dating choices have a history of negatively impacting your life, and you’re ready to change that pattern, I would be honored to help you. Please reach out to me today.