By the title, I am sure you may think it is possible I am in some toxic relationship that gives me no love or hope for a happy ending. Let's begin with making it crystal clear that, that situation, is not the case for me. Although I am young, my boyfriend and I, despite our ups and downs, share a lot of fun moments, laughs and fill each other will love and happiness. The reason I am writing this is to reach out to those who maybe need a nudge or to just realize they are not alone in the decisions they have been thinking about making. I am hoping to open the eyes of someone who maybe needs to just cut the ties and move on. Sometimes, enough is just enough.

I actually have a perfect story for this topic that I actually now look back on and laugh about. Everyone has had that person in their life that they give and give and give to without barely getting anything in return. I once was hung up on a guy, let's keep his name anonymous, but if you are reading this, which you probably are not, you know EXACTLY who you are.

Remembering everything that I would do for this kid makes me want to slap myself in the face and ask myself what I was doing. I was waiting on him hand and foot hoping that he would give me the same exact attention. Boy, I was wrong! This man could not spare a dollar to get me a Mcdonald's Diet Coke if I asked him. He was a selfish person. Now onto the funny part, towards the end of our relationship (if you can even call it that), I decided to write a little something in my notes about him. I made a list of everything I had done for him and given him over the year or so we were talking. I kept writing and writing and I probably had about 15-20 things on the list. Can you guess how many things I had listed underneath what he has done for me? Nope, not five. Nope, not three. I had listed ONE thing that he had done for me. ONE. If that was not a clear sign for me I do not know what would be and that is why I laugh now. I continued to stick around because is typical male fashion, he kept feeding me all the lovely things I wanted to hear but never once did his actions meet his words.

That is exactly how it works. They say nice things, you fall back into it, you give and you give, and then a week later you hear he was fooling around with Becky after he promised to be loyal. Yeah, that really happened. I know what is like to fight for love and wonder why you are not getting any back. You are not alone. It is easy to settle with what you have and make excuses but I am here to tell you that it is your time to find the better that you deserve. That is exactly what I did.

Fast forward a little bit, I finally said enough is enough and I ended it. I started to realize, with the help of my friends and family, that all of this, was not love. Now, I have an amazing guy by my side to go through life with. If you are struggling to find reasons to stay with your significant other, maybe start making a list of why you should leave. Although that is negative, sometimes that is what you need to do to realize it is time to let go. It is okay to be sad. It is okay to feel empty. What you will feel after is VALID. You deserve to feel the love you deserve. You deserve to be treated with respect. You deserve to give and get the same in return. Stop settling for less than that and start realizing when enough is enough.