Society and social media put a lot of emphasis on how every relationship ends because one of them cheats. But I do not believe that is true. So I went around to 17 people I know and asked them the simple question:

Why did your last relationship end?

1. “I don't even know how my relationship ended. He just texted me one morning and said, "I’m done," and blocked me on everything. Also, because I wasn't on birth control." - Anonymous

2. “He valued his sex life with others over being committed to me.” - Laura, 18

3. “I left him and started dating the love of my life to this day instead.” - Anonymous

4. “My last relationship ended because she said, "He was just a friend," but they turned into something much more than that. She cheated on me and I was devastated and still continue to struggle with putting all my trust into someone. But now, I am in a near five month relationship with a very special person who has changed my point of view on love.” - Joe, 17

5. “He joined the military and lived in Japan for two years. So his whole personality changed and he started ignoring me and became an alcoholic. Then he came home and tried to fix things between us. He told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me. Then, just as I was ready to start the relationship over again, I found out that the whole time he was telling me these things, he was also hanging out with this girl that he met off Tinder while I was at work during the day. So I lost all trust in him and grew a hatred for him in my heart. But to this day he will still try to message me and talk about getting back together with me, but I know it will never, ever happen again. “ - Anonymous

6. “It ended because he wanted to go out and party, drink and smoke with girls and he got mad because I wasn't okay with that.” - Mariah, 18

7. “My last relationship ended because I was having a lot of difficulties with my mental health and he wasn't able to understand what was happening. He was not what I needed. I didn't know how to go about dumping him, so it dragged on for about a month and I ended up dumping him on the 4th of July at my local fireworks." - Anonymous, 17

8. “So my last relationship ended because I went to college (he was already in college), and when I started school, he got super jealous and overprotective of me. We were constantly fighting and he was always worried about where I was and who I was with and what I was doing. I eventually started feeling like I was being suffocated. So I ended the relationship.” - Bailey, 19

9. “My last relationship ended because of a lack of trust and not seeing eye to eye. We loved each other, but some of the stress was just too much.” - Paige, 18

10. "We broke up because we were arguing a lot, so we took a break because he needed time to 'better himself.' But then I later learned that he cheated on me multiple times during our relationship. " - Anonymous, 17

11. “ He was a damn nut, I’ll tell you. He broke up with me because I had a panic attack.” - Anonymous

12. "My ex-boyfriend was an alcoholic and cheated on me with a stripper and didn't tell me he was moving to Arizona until two weeks before. We were together for a year. I swear this isn't a Jerry Springer episode. I am now 38, engaged and have almost been with my fiance for two years in November." - Tracie , 38

13. "I guess the simplest way to put it is that my best friend in the world felt that I wasn't enough for him. He lied to my face and choose someone else over me. He threw away what we had together for another girl and thought that I was overreacting when I found out and couldn't 'just forget it.' To this day, he claims it never really happened, but I don't believe that for a second. Looking back now, he definitely did me a favor, though. He was toxic and even though leaving him was one of the hardest things I've ever done, I know that I'm a better person without him. " - Nicole, 19

14. "I felt as if she pressured and pushed me into the relationship." - Ryan, 23

15. "We ended things because of distance. He was going to start school and so was it. I also wanted a lifetime and he didn't. We were totally different people but to this day we are still such great friends. It worked out for the both of us." - Kaitlyn, 18

16. "My last relationship ended because it was becoming toxic. I started my relationship off with a person that I was very misinformed about. It turns out that he was violent towards girls in the past. Aside from that, I was a very positive person and he was born with chemical imbalances in his brain that left him with chronic depression/anxiety. Even though I didn't know that going into the relationship, I stayed around for awhile. I wanted to fix him. As much as I wanted to help, it was just impossible. I tried over and over again, but he was just born that way. There was nothing I could do. Later on he ended up trying to overdose and ended up in the hospital minutes away from dying. He then had to learn how to walk, talk, run, etc. Everything a newborn baby had to learn. He was so close to death that he pretty much had to restart. I was there every step of the way through his recovery. Soon after he got home, that’s where it went sour. He decided since suicide wasn't working, hard drugs and alcohol addiction was the only way to solve that. That was the last straw. I felt so strongly for him, but I knew for myself that I had to leave. This was becoming too much and I didn't want to get into bad things. I ended our relationship for my own good. I was doing it for myself. I had to get away before I trapped myself. I couldn't handle that toxic relationship." - Anonymous

17. "My previous relationship lasted a year and a half and it ended a year later than it should have. To be as simple as possible, it ended because I fell in love with someone else. But there’s a reason for that. My ex is the most awful person I have ever met in my life. He is conceided, sexist and rude. I let him walk all over me for months. I could never be better than him at anything, even the littlest things. One time I won a Monopoly game and he had a fit. But if he won, he would act like such a big shot and that no one could ever beat him. Constantly, he would make me feel terrible for being good at something. He always had to be better. His writing was the best, his style was the best, his cooking was the best, etc. He would brag about how much his teachers loved him and how great he did on his writing projects (we were in the same class). I was always “almost as good as him.”

When his step mom kicked him out, he moved into my poppop and mom’s house. He said he would pay each month to help for bills/ food. My mother cooked a home cooked meal on the table every single night. My poppop taught him how to drive and took him to work every day because he didn’t want to take the bus. He ended up only paying for rent once and said that he shouldn’t have to pay for a house that wasn’t ‘up to his standards.’ He beat my 12 and 15 year old dogs until they were limping because they went to the bathroom in the house. I was brainwashed into thinking that he was doing something good and that he was ‘training them.’

He would threaten my little brother that he was going to take away his Xbox because he was misbehaving. When he went to work, he would give me a list of chores to do. And I kid you not, he would come home from work and look at the carpet for crumbs and point out where I would miss a spot. I thought that maybe when we were older, had good jobs and were living together, that he would be less stressed all the time and we would finally be happy together.

For the first few months of the relationship, he was perfect. He treated me great and would spoil me and makes me feel so beautiful. Then he stopped. It’s like he did all of those things just to get me and now that he had me, he didn't have to be nice anymore. His jokes got meaner. He would joke around so much with me that I started to question whether I was pretty or not. He called me beautiful one time over text and I broke down crying. I haven’t heard that in so long. I thought he would get better soon. I was in denial.

One night I refused to have sex with him and I went upstairs to go to bed and he came up and confessed that he had asked his friend for naked pictures of her. I knew this girl and she knew that we were together. But she sent him one anyway. He claimed that he deleted the picture right away, but he didn't. I know that he still has it to this day.

I started talking to his best friend. It sounds bad, but his friend kind of hated him also. My ex would walk all over him and would ask him for rides and not pay him. He would make fun of him and I would always defend him. He was so sweet, nerdy and adorable and I always had a crush on him. We became best friends and we would hang out while my boyfriend at the time was at work. It was the only ounce of happiness I ever had. We found out that we had so much in common. There was this connection I had never felt before in my life. I could finally not care about having to vacuum the floors and I could go out and laugh. I could go be happy and do things I wanted to do. We fell in love. But I thought we could never be together because it would look so bad if I started dating his best friend.

Eventually I said screw it. I wanted to be happy despite what anyone else thought. I broke up with him and it was like a giant weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I look back and wonder how I ever survived that. His ex friend and I are still together to this day, two and a half years later. It was the best decision I have ever made." - Jess, 18

When I read all of these, I was in shock over the stories that people have gone through. But I learned that not all relationships end badly. Everyone's story is different and as much as society wants to put an emphasis on that everyone cheats in relationships and how you cannot trust anybody, that is not true. So if you are still looking, keep your head held high and keep swiping through tinder. There is plenty of fish in the sea, so just keep fishing.