Have You Let Your Life Get Derailed by a Loved One?
Love and life require a mix of making compromises and maintaining boundaries.
So how do you know when your compromises are worth it? How do you know if you’ve let your boundaries be crossed? How do you know if your relationship is becoming intrusive, even toxic?
We must accept compromises when forging a life with our partners, but where is the line drawn between the necessity of making compromises and the necessity of upholding your boundaries?
I vowed I would never end up with someone who smoked cigarettes. I have been careful with my finances, and I am doing fine for myself, but my partner has no savings and, while he has job prospects, is currently unemployed. We moved, as a compromise to Florida, though neither of us can quite bear the heat and humidity here and both know that this is a temporary sojourn in suburban life.
Yet have I let my boundaries become eroded? Is my partner taking advantage of me? I can’t help but feel that he is, though he is tremendously helpful in different areas of my life. Though I had finally made the move to California, where I’d yearned to live, during the pandemic, I wasn’t happy there without a partner (especially given that I tried to relocate to California not once but twice in the middle of the pandemic, and only found myself exceedingly…
