Have you ever put your hand on a fire and let it burn through your skin until you couldn’t take the pain anymore? When you look at it, it’s blistering and bleeding and it’ll probably never be the same. If you have done that, go get counseling. My point is, love is the only aspect of life where we take pride in being able to absorb hurt. In essence, the more someone puts us through, the more we feel as though we’ve made it.

That logic makes about as much sense as dieting and working out for months and then saying, “I’ve lost 30 pounds now I can eat all I want.” What’s the point of wanting to love someone and grow with them if their only intention is to do what they want to do?

Cheating gets a lot of attention and rightfully so but we have to stop pretending like cheating is the only thing in a relationship that can make you a bad partner. Unhappiness, neglect, emotional barriers, all of these traits can add up to hurt. Hurt doesn’t feel good, it doesn’t help your quality of life.

Relationships shouldn’t hurt because they’re supposed to make us better. This isn’t to say there won’t be moments where you feel instances of pain or hurt but it shouldn’t take pain and hurt to heal you; not push their hand inside the wound and see how much more damage they can do.