People Divulge What They Think Is 'The Point Of No Return' In A Relationship

Falling in love is the easiest stage of a relationship. Everything seems to fall into place. The clouds magically part, the birds sing, and rays of sunshine dance on your face. There's nothing better.

Then, reality sets in. The honeymoon phase wanes and there comes a point when a mutually agreed commitment is worth preserving in the long run.

Relationships take work, and the payoff can make loving your significant other more profound and everlasting.

And then there is the point of no return, which can apply to situations when irreparable damage in a relationship is done, either through major betrayal, unresolved conflict, or when a partner loses interest.

Curious to hear of love gone wrong, Redditor Remarkable-Craft-239 asked:

"What’s a 'point of no return' in a relationship?"

These individuals never saw these coming when they committed to being together in love.

Mental Prep

"When I sit in my car for 15 minutes after work to mentally prepare myself to be criticized the moment I step in the apartment."

– PM_ME_YOUR_CUTE_HATS

"A friend told me that a little before breaking up with his ex, she said something along the lines of :'I hate the way you breathe'. I will never want to reach that point with a partner."

"PS: A lot of people misunderstood this, my friend doesn't have a weird breathing habit or any issues with his breathing, her ex was just done with him, and his mere presence and breathing would annoy her. And if your partner's mere existence annoys you, then you should probably break up and move on."

– Kiriikat

In Retrospect

"My ex started doing that to me when we were together in college. I thought that they were just the best person for me so I would just let it slide. When we broke up I realized how foolish I was to try and maintain it when I wasn’t upset at all about it."

"You learn a lot in relationships but you learn a hell of a lot from breakups too."

– Kuhneegit_

Constant Companion

"Yep. I had a house with my long-term then-partner, we had a great relationship and I loved him deeply. But I knew it was over when we were at home and he said something like 'You are just always… here.' "

"Well, I lived there (and I was also battling a difficult illness, which meant I couldn’t do as much as normal). That was so hurtful and I realised my existence was just in the way of his life."

– Hysteria_Wisteria

Movie Night

"This. He would want to 'watch a movie with me.' It was always the same westerns or shoot 'em ups over and over, but if I put on my sci-fi or fantasy, he would make fun of it. We can do your stuff, but not mine?!? wtf."

– weareallmadherealice

Words Sting

"Besides cheating, just genuinely saying mean and hurtful things that can’t be taken back. Even after the argument is over the relationship is never the same since a certain level of trust was broken."

– ArchivedPieces

Extreme Caution

"If you are walking on eggshells around your partner in an attempt to not piss them off."

– rowenaravenclaw0

That Sinking Feeling

"When you see their name on your phone, you feel this sinking feeling of dread, annoyance, and/or indifference. Then it’s most kind to everyone to just end it."

– lady_molotovcocktail

Redditors share signs of souring love.

The Misanthrope

"When one person continues to escalate, throw tantrums, doesn't take accountability, and has no curiosity into their partner's perspective when asked to talk through something that was misaligned, confused, or unusual."

– n8bitgaming

Flying Solo

"When you find yourself genuinely happy and at peace whenever your partner isn't around—realizing they're a dark cloud in your life."

– VerdantMasque

"The last part is the important one. I’m genuinely happy and greatly enjoy my alone time without my girlfriend. She knows this and does the same herself. If you can ONLY do it when they’re not around then yes that’s a very big problem."

– eyedontcare1

When It's Officially Over

"When at least one party feels taken advantage of by the other. The moment you start taking the other person for granted and stop trying, that’s the kiss of death."

– kimchi_pancakes

"This one hits home. My ex stopped caring about me the minute I began to regularly cook and clean for her. If I wasn't acting as her maid or personal chef, she became an angry, resentful monster."

"If your partner wants nothing to do with you unless you wait on them hand and foot, leave. They have no respect for you as a person - you're just an object to them."

– AmongtheSolarSystem

Numbness Seeps In

"Apathy."

"Hate indicates that there are still feelings there, they’re just manifesting differently. But apathy? Apathy means you really don’t give a sh*t anymore. And that’s death to relationships."

– goblin_goblin

Losing Yourself

"When you realize that you can’t be you in the relationship. You’re biting your tongue & making yourself small to be palatable & stay partnered."

"And you realize that if nothing changes, you’re looking at being this small, lesser person for the rest of your life. And somehow your spine becomes steel & you decide to leave."

– txcowgrrl

"Or you remain spineless and stay in the relationship, tread on eggshells, minimise yourself, because 'I will not survive being alone again' (genuine thing I used to tell myself)."

"Thankfully my partner had more courage and broke it off for me."

– TeaCourse

A Visible Response

"Eyerolling."

"It might look small. But if one side starts to show "contempt" towards the other, it means the respect is lost, and it's almost impossible to fix that."

– acariux

Lost Respect

"I would say the biggest is disdain. If you feel like that is how you are being responded to or if your reaction to your partner is at all disdainfull pack your bags and leave. There is no coming back from a basic lack of respect or empathy for what should be a partner that you encourage and support even when they 'do the Dumb.' "

– plzthinkb4uspeak

The 'point of no return ' doesn't always mean when things go south.

In It For The Long-Haul

"There is a kind of point of no return in the other direction from the one you are meaning with your post."

"When you have both reached a point where life tragedy, family problems, medical issues, and every other thing outside your control has done its best to destroy you, your getting past middle age."

"You have experienced everything from the most mundane of medical exams with perhaps less than pleasant pictures shown (yay colonoscopy video clips where they find a spot they need to investigate and show it to you!) up through something traumatic and life altering, like that spot turning out to be cancerous, and your partner has gone through the same level of sh*t."

"And yet still you are able to just go sit together and be in each other's company and feel safe and kinda tune out the world for a bit and rest, no words needed, just sit together, maybe barely touching, and read, or let the tv play, and just be there for each other."

"No judgements, no worries, if one of you farts or burps neither cares, if one of you feels especially worn out or a bit sick the other knows to just grab a bottle of juice or something from the fridge on their way to join you."

"At a certain point, it just seems to reach a state where you are probably classified as both experiencing co-dependency, but in a comfortable and functional way that has a balance to it."

"You know each other so intimately you sometimes think you know the other better than yourself. In fact, your partner sometimes recognizes and points out answers to things you might be struggling to figure out, and its obvious when they say it, but you didnt think of it yourself, but they just know you and how you think that well."

– Gorbashsan

The examples above showed that not all indications of a doomed relationship result from obvious culprits like cheating.

Unaddressed issues can drive a wedge between partners and lead to disaster, and when all efforts to preserve a relationship are futile, it's time to move on.