We all know that relationships are complicated, and your partner can upset or disappoint you.

But there is one thing that your relationship should always have through all its ups and downs, and that is respect.

If your partner does not respect you enough, unfortunately there is very little chance that your relationship will be happy and healthy.

Unfortunately, I have had this experience myself. But the bright side is that it helped me learn how to recognize the seven behaviors your partner displays when they don’t respect you enough.

Let’s take a look at what they are.

1) They constantly criticize you
Since we’re all human and have room for growth, it’s natural for your partner to give you some feedback or point out things you can work on.

But as long as they respect you, they will find a way to do it with love and compassion.

If they criticize you instead, it’s a red flag that they don’t respect you enough.

This immediately makes me think of my ex – the first few months with him were amazing, I couldn’t get enough of him.

But as time went on and we got used to each other, he started to find things about me that he wasn’t happy about – a lot of things.

How I folded the laundry, how I finished work late, how distracted I was when I was tired… I started to feel like I couldn’t do anything right.

It took a toll on my self-esteem, which took me years to fully recover from afterwards.

Make sure you don’t let this happen to you, and set clear boundaries around how much you’re willing to accept feedback from your partner.

2) They ignore your boundaries
Following on from my previous point, once you set boundaries of any kind with your partner, if they respect you, they should follow them.

This is non-negotiable, it is crucial to your happiness and the health of your relationship.

I learned this first hand with my ex-boyfriend. I wanted to spend time with my friends, as well as some quiet time to read or work on my side business.

But my ex wasn’t able to understand that and expected me to cancel my plans or work in order to spend time with him if he suddenly had free time.

We had quite a few disagreements about this and I didn’t understand why I couldn’t get him to see things from my perspective.

Now in hindsight, I see that the problem was his lack of respect for me. He was prioritizing his wants and needs over mine, and I felt completely rejected.

If you can communicate, take this seriously – express how you feel and why it is necessary for the relationship. If this continues, it may be time to re-evaluate the relationship itself.

3) They make a decision that affects you both without you
It is clear that even in a relationship, both people maintain their independence and freedom of choice.

So it’s natural that you can make some decisions on your own, as well as your partner. But there are also decisions you have to make together, because they affect both of you.

At least if your partner respects you. If you don’t, you’ll find yourself surprised or even bewildered by the decisions you had to make as partners.

Maybe you share your money but he makes large purchases without consulting you first.

In my ex’s case, he decided what we were going to do on our vacation together without asking me first.

The message was clear: my thoughts, feelings, and opinions were secondary to his. I didn’t realize this right away, but it was definitely affecting me on a subconscious level.

It undermined our trust, our commitment to each other, and my individuality – I started to feel like I had to fight to have my voice heard, and that’s something you should never go through.

4) They reject your interests
Ignoring your interests is a subtle but harmful way to express disrespect in a relationship.

Although they may not say it outright, they are sending you the message that what you love, what makes you unique, and what brings you happiness is unimportant or trivial.

I loved drawing in my spare time. It was a hobby that allowed me to express myself and relax.

But my ex never cared about my art. He called it a “silly hobby,” and sometimes he would make a little fun of it. He never asked me what I was working on or why I enjoyed drawing so much.

Slowly, I found myself drawing less and less, partly because I started to internalize his opinions and started to feel silly about it myself.

At the same time, his lack of interest in something that was a part of me made me feel unsupported, unloved, and undervalued.

Your hobbies and interests are extensions of you, and a loving partner should show interest or at least support, even if they don’t share the same passion.

5) They feel jealous or possessive

If your partner shows constant jealousy or possessiveness, this is another sign that he does not respect you enough.

Of course, I’m not talking about the simple twinge of jealousy you feel when you see your partner having an extremely good time with someone else, or hear them appreciate something in someone else that you wish you had too.

I mean when jealousy becomes a constant theme in your relationship.

My own experience with this was very disturbing. I wanted to learn how to dance, so I attended dance classes and socials.

My partner didn’t dare stop me from going completely, but he made it clear through his comments and behavior that he wasn’t okay with me going and wanted me to stay home.

I tried to take it as a sign that he cared about me, but as time went on, it became suffocating.

6) They take without giving back
In relationships, there must be constant give and take. Not in the sense that you both keep score and make it exactly 50/50, but in the way that each of you likes to give it to the other.

Unless your partner doesn’t respect you. In this case, you’ll start to feel biased when you do all the work, and they reap all – or almost all – of the benefits.

I remember when I was with my ex, I would try my best to help him, plan our vacations on my own, clean his apartment so he didn’t have to do it when he came home from work tired, and make nice surprises. for him.

But it never occurred to him to do something like that in return.

Sure he would do things if I asked him to, but other than that he didn’t seem to think about giving it to me just because he cared about my well-being.

Eventually, I started to feel resentful, and stopped giving him so much myself – so in the end, we weren’t giving to each other.

As you can see, this is definitely not the recipe for a healthy or sustainable relationship in the long term.

7) They don’t listen to you properly
Listening is one of the simplest forms of respect. When someone truly listens, they are saying that your words matter, your feelings are valid, and your thoughts are worthy of attention.

But if your partner does not listen to you properly, it is a clear indication that he does not respect you enough.

I still vividly remember trying to share my feelings with my ex, doing my best to ask him to give me a one-word answer or general responses like “I’m sorry to hear that.”

All I wanted was for him to care enough to ask me some thoughtful questions and say something meaningful and to the point about what I was sharing with him.

Without it, I started to feel alone in the relationship, and my voice no longer mattered.

This is obviously a big problem – don’t let this behavior go unnoticed in your relationship.

Get the respect you deserve in your relationship

Now you know the seven behaviors your partner may display when he doesn’t respect you enough.

You may not notice them right away – as I mentioned, my ex and I started out incredibly happy together.

But over time, I think we started taking each other for granted, and then these behaviors started to surface on his part.

What can you do in this situation? You can’t change who they are, but you can set boundaries and decide what you’re willing to tolerate.

I’ve personally started trying to have open conversations about this topic. For some couples, this may be enough to fix these issues.

For me, I realized it wasn’t the right relationship for me, and I walked away, and that’s totally okay too.

If your partner can’t respect you enough, it’s time to find someone who does.

Get the respect you deserve in your relationship

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