10 Real Stories About the Messy Side of Love

Not every love story ends with happily ever after. Sometimes, the signs are there from the start, you just don’t want to see them. Maybe it’s a comment brushed off as a joke, a moment of indifference when you needed them most, or a gut feeling you tried to ignore.

• My marriage was a horrid mess. We decided to start couples therapy. After our first session, the counselor refused to keep seeing us. She said, “You’re wasting your time and money.” I was shocked and asked why. She told us, “I can see you have deep problems in the relationship, and I would normally advise you to split up. But I can also see that you are deeply in love and committed to staying married. So, I would only see you again after you’ve both worked on yourselves separately.”

• Now that I really think about my failed relationship, I should have known it was over when I would wait for her to fall asleep so I could cry myself to sleep. Kinda sad and pathetic of me to be this old and not be able to communicate, but it is what it is. There were so many signs that it was over. I chose to ignore them. © Beginning_Over / Reddit

• We had broken up once, and then got back together. We discussed what our future would look like, house, kids etc. When I felt ready to move back in, she was hesitant and said no. It was heartbreaking. We had the same interaction 3 more times until I was forced to resign the lease in my studio apt. We had been together 9 years before the breakup, I knew if then she was unsure that it wasn’t right. © athome**youra*** / Reddit

• I brought up in couple’s therapy that I missed her when she constantly didn’t go to bed at the same time as me because of her long showers. I just said I felt lonely and wanted every couple of days for us to go night-night together and cuddle. She flipped out for half an hour about how strict I was being, said she would do it, but she didn’t want to, and blamed me and the therapist for ganging up on her. I even held her and said I’m sorry this is hard, and she still came at me. I was so angry and sad. © tspencerb / Reddit
  

• He told me relatively early on that we would break up if we were ever long distance, while knowing that his academic goals were to go to grad school abroad. And then he chose to text a past hookup with the intention to cheat instead of communicating with me. Lots of heartbreak and loss of trust throughout our relationship together. © voiua / Reddit

• I felt like I was lying to him about my feelings and putting off a breakup. I also felt the nagging negative feeling even in “stillness” rather than only in times when it is normal for negative emotions/thoughts to come up. I felt bad because I felt like I could not reciprocate the love he had for me. Felt like I was becoming a worse person during the relationship, holding onto resentments.
  © Traditional-Clue2206 / Reddit

• I finally saw how selfish he was. We dated for 8 years, engaged for 6 months, and $10K of my own money invested in the wedding when one night (while brushing my teeth for bed) I asked him, “So this is what our life is going to be like when we are married? I don’t want to marry you anymore.” All he said after taking a deep breath was, “Ok.” And that was it. I moved out that week.
  © HyenaFree2261 / Reddit

• We were at the beach, I didn’t have a bathing suit, but he got in the water for a bit. I was standing at the edge of the water with my feet in. When he came back to shore, I asked him to come over. As cheesy as it is, I was wanting to share a loving embrace on the beach. He walked off. It was the second time in two days on this vacation he’d denied my bid for connection and the 1000th time he’s done it in our relationship. That was it for me. © WhataRedditor / Reddit
  

• I knew it was over when he couldn’t be bothered to put effort into our huge relationship problems or addressing the massive tension that had accumulated until that point. I felt so alone in that relationship, and I asked myself if I could live with that after we were officially married... so I broke it off. © Sintuary / Reddit

• I thought I found the one because she was sweet, caring, kind, thoughtful. She made me feel amazing, and so in turn I ignored some red flags that should always tell you it won't end well. She lied and hid things constantly. The way she treated friends and family she felt had wronged her. She would never accept that something was her fault. And eventually her love turned conditional.
  © Unknown author / Reddit

Love doesn’t always fall apart in loud, dramatic ways. Sometimes it fades through small cracks and silent disappointments. These stories remind us to pay attention to how we feel, what we need, and whether the person we’re with is truly capable of giving it.