Thought Catalog Agency

4 Concrete Signs Your Relationship Is One-Sided

You don’t want to end up in a relationship where you’re doing all the work and exerting all the effort. You deserve someone who meets you halfway, someone who is willing to give as much as they take. Here are some signs that your relationship is currently imbalanced and something needs to change:

You’re the person putting in more emotional labor.

You’re the person who puts your heart on the line every single day by uttering those three little words and dropping compliments – but your partner is silent. They rarely comment on how nice you look or thank you for how much you’ve been doing to help them. They are never the ones to start deep conversations, either. You’re the person who has to bring up topics that are hard to talk about because they would rather ignore problems than work toward fixing them. Whenever it’s time for an emotionally vulnerable conversation, you’re the one leading the talk. You’re the one trying to pull answers out of them because they don’t want to open up and actually talk.

You’re stuck with the majority of the chores.

You’re the one who is stuck putting gas in the car and cooking meals and cleaning the toilet and setting doctor appointments. Whenever something needs to get done around your place, you’re the person who handles it. They never tackle chores unless you ask them – and even then, you have to remind them over and over again before they finally help you out. Even though you’re technically in a relationship, you’re basically on your own. In fact, you have more work now than when you were single because you’re handling your workload and theirs.

You’re the only one who is ever apologizing.

It’s not that you make more mistakes than your person or are treating them unfairly. It’s that you are willing to own up to your mistakes. When your partner is upset, you try to make it up to them. But when the tables are turned and they’ve done something to hurt your feelings, they aren’t able to take responsibility for their actions. They try to displace the blame and weasel out of important conversations. They never actually apologize or work on becoming a better partner. You’re the only one who is trying to better yourself, to be the best partner you can be.

You’re the only one putting effort into keeping the relationship healthy.

You try your hardest to check in on your partner and make sure they’re doing okay throughout the work day. You try to be there for them whenever they’re upset about problems in their life, and will give them advice on how to solve whatever is bothering them. You consider their issues to be your issues because you’re in this together. However, they never have your back in the same way. They leave you to deal with your problems alone. They run away when things get uncomfortable. They have no interest in helping you through your rough moments and only want you around when you’re in a good, fun mood. You’ve been there for them in ways they’ve never been there for you.