5 Concrete Signs You’re Too Attached To Your Long-Term Partner

Everyone wants a partner who makes them feel special, who dedicates enough time to them, who is always around when they’re needed. However, you don’t want your partner around too much. You don’t want them to turn into your entire world. Here are signs you’ve grown a little too attached to your partner:

You never leave the house without each other.

While it’s sweet that you want to spend as much time together as possible, and it’s healthy to overlap your friend groups and invite each other to events, it’s not healthy to be together twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. You need some time apart too. Some time where you’re focusing on your own thing. If you never spend a second away from your partner, it will end up backfiring on you. You’ll end up relying too heavily on each other and stop remembering how to live without each other. 

You feel guilty whenever you do anything without them.

You don’t have to do every activity together, watch every show together, play every game together. You’re supposed to have your own wants, your own hobbies, your own passions. While it’s wonderful to share experiences most of the time, you deserve some time to yourself too. You certainly shouldn’t feel guilty about taking some time for yourself, about needing a tiny bit of space in between hours and hours of bonding. It doesn’t matter if you want to rest without them breathing over your shoulder or go out and have a fun day without them. Your partner shouldn’t make you feel bad about it.

You are relying on them for every ounce of happiness.

It’s not fair to put this much pressure on your partner. And they shouldn’t put this much pressure on you. They aren’t supposed to be the only reason for your existence, the only reason you’re able to get up in the morning, the only reason you smile throughout the day. Love is wonderful — but you need more than one person to have a well-rounded life. You need to find other things that bring you joy and fulfillment. You owe it to yourself and to them.

You can’t make a decision without their input.

When you’re in a committed relationship, there are certain decisions you should be making together. However, you don’t need your partner’s permission for every little thing. You should be able to make small choices on your own. You should trust your gut. You should be confident that you can do this. You are your own person.

You feel isolated from the rest of the world.

Toxic partners will pull you away from everyone else — but healthy partners might do the same accidentally. You might end up only spending time with each other because you would rather be together than anywhere else in the world. While that’s sweet in theory, you don’t want to neglect the other people that were important to you before you met this person. You don’t want to let friendships fade away. You need to invest energy into them too.