Complicated Relationships: What Are They and Why Should You Avoid Them?
Complicated relationships are, as the name suggests, relationships that are fraught with difficulties and complexities.
They can be romantic relationships, friendships, or even casual acquaintances that have become problematic. Today we’ll explore some common types of complicated relationships and the negative consequences that can arise from them.
Friends with Benefits
Friends with benefits can be an appealing situation. It offers the best of both worlds—a satisfying sexual relationship without the emotional entanglements of a traditional relationship.
However, this type of arrangement can quickly become complicated when one person catches feelings, and the other is unwilling to take things to the next level. The result?
A doomed friendship that can be difficult to recover.
Secret Relationships
Secret relationships can be thrilling and exciting, but they’re also often unpleasant and unfair. Interracial relationships, for instance, may be met with disapproval from friends and family, leading to a need for secrecy.
In cases where two people work together, a relationship can put their jobs in jeopardy if discovered by their employer.
Married Crush
Having a crush on a married person can be thrilling, but it’s a slippery slope that can lead to a full-blown affair, jeopardizing the marriage of the individual involved in the affair, the married individual’s marriage, or both. Additionally, pursuing a crush who is a close friend can betray the trust of the marital partner, causing immense turmoil in both marriages.
Pretending to be Someone You’re Not
Who hasn’t put on a front to impress someone else? However, the problem with pretending to be someone you’re not is that it’s hard to sustain that image.
Ultimately, the truth comes out, and people are left feeling tricked and misled. Sustainability is essential in any relationship, and playing a role that is not true to your personality will never result in lasting satisfaction.
Crushing on Your Best Friend
When you develop feelings for your best friend, you find yourself in uncharted territory. The potential for feelings to not be returned, which can lead to awkwardness, bitterness, and even the end of the friendship, is high.
A good friendship can quickly be ruined when romantic feelings are one-sided.
Circumstantial Love
People find themselves in relationships with partners that they don’t really love because of convenience, necessity, guilt, or another problem. This type of situation is never ideal since it’s built on dependencies like wanting your partner to pay for everything or wanting a person to keep you company so you don’t have to be alone.
“Comfortable” Relationship
Finally, a well-known cause of complicated relationships is settling for a person you don’t love to avoid being alone. This type of relationship offers convenience but lacks passion, and ultimately, it is not sustainable in love.
Negative Consequences of Complicated Relationships
Although complicated relationships can be exciting at the start, they can’t typically last for long. Here are just a few of the negative consequences that are usually associated with them:
- Friends with Benefits can result in the loss of a good friendship when feelings are not reciprocated.
- Secret relationships can lead to unpleasant and unfair emotional entanglements.
- Married crushes result in jeopardized marriages and deteriorating friendships.
- Playing a role that is not true to your personality induces disharmony in relationships.
- Having a crush on a best friend can lead to the end of the friendship.
- Circumstantial love is never a good foundation for any relationship since it’s built on dependencies.
- “Comfortable” relationships lack passion, and settling in love will never result in lasting satisfaction.
In conclusion, complicated relationships may seem desirable at the start, but they’re hard to sustain, and the emotional fallout can be disastrous.
Always remember: the foundation of any long-term relationship should be built on honesty, mutual respect, and love. Avoid settling for less than you truly want; doing so creates a life full of unhappiness and will lead to the complication of future relationships.
Dangers of Complicated Relationships: Learn to Recognize the Signs
Complicated relationships can have a range of negative consequences that are wide-ranging and impactful, with many of these consequences not becoming apparent until it’s too late. Let’s take a closer look at some of the dangers of these types of relationships.
Friends with Benefits
Friends with benefits can be a lot of fun, but when it’s not done right, it can lead to a lot of emotional harm. Whether it’s a lack of clear communication or unspoken feelings, friends with benefits can result in miscommunication and frustration.
If one person wants more than just a casual fling and the other isn’t interested in anything more, there can be emotional trauma on both sides.
Secret Relationships
Secret relationships can also be very dangerous, leading to loneliness and pressures that can take a toll on your mental health. These types of relationships can be incredibly unhealthy habits, leading to anxiety and depression.
Hiding a relationship from friends and family can also lead to a sense of isolation and a lack of necessary support.
Married Crush
Having a crush on a married person is a bad idea, and it can lead to affair consequences that can have long-lasting impacts and cause trust issues in all future relationships. Crossing boundaries and betraying a friend’s trust by acting on your feelings for them is a recipe for disaster, showing that neither party is loyal or trustworthy.
Pretending to be Someone You’re Not
Pretending to be someone you’re not can be incredibly frustrating, leading to disappointments that can interfere with the compatibility of a couple. Playing a part not true to your personality can lead to frustration with your partner’s expectations or worse, the breakdown of the relationship.
Crush on Your Best Friend
Developing feelings for your best friend can be incredibly challenging. It can lead to emotional turmoil and awkwardness that can break up a friendship.
Confession and rejection can affect both parties, leading to the realization that their previous connection was not as deep as they thought.
Circumstantial Love
Being in a relationship out of circumstance is a breeding ground for resentment and feelings of obligation, leading to feeling trapped and stuck between a rock and a hard place. It can be difficult to extract yourself from these types of situations, and it can be especially important to take control of one’s life when trapped in these scenarios.
“Comfortable” Relationship
A relationship may seem comfortable, yet this is not ideal. ‘Comfortable’ relationships lack the passion, emotional support, and deeper connections that people expect from a strong and long-lasting relationship with their partner.
Staying in a comfortable relationship out of fear of change or loneliness is nothing but a dead end, and it’s essential to re-evaluate your goals and think about what truly makes you happy.
Lessons Learned From Complicated Relationships: Moving Forward
Learning from the mistakes of complicated relationships is essential when moving forward.
Here are some valuable pieces of advice:
Friends with Benefits: Be Honest with Yourself and Your Partner
When engaging in this type of relationship, it’s crucial to be honest with your partner about your intentions and boundaries, so you both don’t end up hurt.
Secret Relationships: Honesty is Essential
The stigma of interracial relationships, or inter-office relationships, can seem daunting, but honesty is ultimately the best policy. There’s no benefit to keeping secrets, as it creates more harm than good, leaving both parties feeling isolated and unsupported.
Married Crush: Respect Boundaries and Loyalty
Learning to respect the boundaries of someone else’s marriage can protect both marriages involved. Keeping your crush to yourself or confessing yours to your spouse, where necessary, will show loyalty and protect relationships from turmoil.
Pretending to be Someone You’re Not: Be True to Yourself and Honest with Your Partner
Be true to yourself in a relationship; it’s the only way you will feel satisfied with yourself and in the relationship. Invest in the person you are, not the person you believe your partner or society wants you to be.
Crush on Your Best Friend: Take Risks and Value Friendship
If your best friend is the one, take the risk, but prepare for the consequences, and if it’s not the case, value the friendship and respect one another.
Circumstantial Love: Take Control of Your Life and Seek Help If Needed
Avoid being trapped in this relationship type. Learn to take control of your life by creating new opportunities and reaching out for help when needed.
“Comfortable” Relationship: Communicate, Invest in Passion, and Honesty
Open communication, investment in passion, and honesty is critical in advancing a relationship. Never settle, as you will find it will lead to slow defeat and stalemate in the relationship.
In conclusion, it’s critical to recognize the warning signs of complicated relationships, and it’s always advisable to have open and honest communication with yourself and your partner. All relationships are unique, and you must make it your own; the more you know yourself and your partner, the better you can journey together.
In conclusion, navigating complicated relationships can be challenging, and the negative consequences can be severe. Understanding the dangers of complicated relationships, ranging from emotional turmoil to betrayal, is essential.
Recognizing the lessons to be learned from complex relationships—communication, loyalty, honesty, taking risks, and valuing friendships—is equally important. It is imperative to learn from past experiences as we move forward, paying attention to what makes us happy and actively seeking fulfilling relationships.
When done right, relationships can be the most rewarding and transformative aspects of our lives.
