Being in a toxic and unhealthy relationship takes a lot out of you, and there have probably been times when you lost out to a toxic guy. This is one of the most painful and heartbreaking experiences. For every woman who lost herself to a toxic man, this one is for you.

Some days I wonder if I’ll ever be completely normal again, and unfortunately, those days seem to happen more often than I’d like to admit.

Yes, relationships take a lot of work but relationships are supposed to be fun. When you’re with the right person, relationships are simple. Nobody deserves to be in a relationship where they are afraid of their partner, but this is more and more common these days.

I am ashamed to admit that I remained in a relationship in which I was afraid of the man I was with.

All it took was a day, one day I had enough courage to leave, and leaving was the best decision I ever made. I let someone take so much from me, and if I didn’t have the courage to leave, I don’t know where I would be today.

For every girl ever lost to a toxic guy

I dated someone who made me lose my self-worth.
I lost my smile that once lit up any room I entered because he couldn’t stand to see me happy. My smile bothered him.

Once he got me hooked he knew he made me hooked and he knew he could manipulate me. He knew he had me wrapped around his finger and he knew I wouldn’t leave. Because of him, I couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror anymore because it made me feel less than I knew possible.

I dated someone who made me lose my self confidence.
Because of him, I lost my self-confidence and my barbaric attitude. I was the girl who “didn’t deserve to be praised because I didn’t need her”. Because of him, I felt worthless.

I dated someone I thought I knew.

I had spent so much time convincing myself that he was going back to the man I first met that I was completely oblivious to the fact that it was impossible. I wanted so badly to believe it was just a phase, but it wasn’t.

I dated someone I didn’t even know who he was.

The man I met for the first time wasn’t him. He was who he wanted to be seen as. It turns out that he is nothing but a liar and a cheater. I constantly made excuses for him and ignored his mistakes.

I wanted him to be the man he pretended to be so hard that I went blind. Because of this, she made our relationship picture-perfect on Instagram. I thought if you made it look perfect, it would be perfect.

Because of him, I lied to everyone who asked me how we were doing. I lied because I thought if I lied about it enough, it would become the truth. I deliberately chose to ignore all the signs because all I wanted to do was see the best in him.

I dated someone who made me ask everyone.

Because of him, I realized that maybe some people don’t have any good in themselves. Because of him, I stopped being the one who saw the best in everyone. The one who gave everyone doubt.

I dated someone who was not able to love anyone but themselves.

I thought that if I left everything aside and loved him with everything inside of me, he would make him bring me back again. It took me a long time to understand this, but now I realize that it is impossible to make someone love you who only knows how to love themselves.

Because of him, I felt lonely while I was next to him physically. I was dating a guy who refused to kiss me and refused to look at me. It made me feel unworthy every step of the way. No matter how many times I had a big smile on my face and was excited to see him, I was never worth looking at.

I was dating someone who purposely put me down so they could feel powerful. It was like a game to him – the worse I felt, the better I felt.

I dated someone I let manipulate.
Every time he bailed or ignored my calls, he somehow made me feel like I deserved it. It made me feel as if I didn’t deserve to be talked to. Every time I questioned his cheating on me, he somehow turned it on for me.

It was my fault that he hid things because “if I trusted him, he wouldn’t have to hide it.” It was my mistake that he texted other girls on social media because ‘if you trust him, it doesn’t matter who he’s ‘talking to. He manipulated me into thinking I was crazy.

I was dating someone jealous of me.

Because of him, I stopped greeting everyone with a smile because he was jealous of the fact that so many people know and love me. It made me feel guilty for being friendly. He said I was “a bitch” because I knew a lot of people of the opposite sex. I convinced myself that I had to be a bitch if he said I was one.

Because of him, I stopped being my champagne self to try to get him to like me. Because of him, I thought that if I made myself less of a person, he would stop making me feel guilty for being me.

Because of him, every time someone praised me for something, I didn’t believe them. Because of him, I wanted to be someone less than me.

I dated someone who had to degrade others to build himself up.
He was the man who had always been in a relationship. He was and still is the guy who instantly jumps into a new relationship because he can’t survive without manipulating someone.

He’s the guy who jumped into a new relationship 4 days after we broke up. I feel sorry for the girl he was with (and the girls after him) because he would go on to make all the other girls feel the way he made me feel. He will never be happy with himself, and the only way he knows how to fill the void inside him is to insult others.

I dated someone who made me stronger.

Because I let him go, I feel more powerful than ever. Because I left him, I remember the feeling of the girl who always smiles but I remember the person who took that away.

Because I left him, I regained my sense of humor. Because I left him, I’ve met a lot of people who like me for who I am and don’t bother me for it. I would never tolerate anyone doing that. Because I let him go, I know what it feels like to be truly loved.