Unhealthy relationships come in all forms and can be heavily disguised.
Whether the relationship in question is one of a romantic nature, friendship, or even a parental relationship, when it comes to being able to recognize the unhealthy relationship we all have to look at things with a sense of reason.
We all have a certain amount of habitual unhealthiness in our lives.
We give too much, take too much, ebb and flow in unhealthy patterns that we strive to make healthier.
But an unhealthy relationship is one that can be defined as one that continuously and perpetually leaves us feeling drained, scared, and emotionally vulnerable to continuing the pattern.
When we break it down into stages, we can usually tell when a relationship is unhealthy.
We have an innate sense of intuition that will tell us that the current situation is bad for us.
We have physical and emotional responses to everything from the thought of talking to the individual to seeing the individual in question.
These types of relationships are not necessarily completely within our control.
An ex that refuses to leave us alone or a parent that continuously hassles us with degrading comments are not completely about our ability to make good relationship choices.
How we handle them is the only thing that is in our control.
Breaking away from a relationship that is unhealthy is difficult.
We are usually still getting something vital from the relationship even if that something is a negative.
Somehow it feeds us in a way we feel we need to be fed.
If we lack the ability to lay down healthy boundaries internally regardless of the other's behavior, we tend to feed off the negativity in a destructive way.
Yet breaking away from unhealthy relationships can be liberating and can show us that we do not need to continue unhealthy patterns with the people we love.
Breaking away doesn't have to mean never speaking to someone again, it means putting enough of a boundary between you and the situation to allow healthier developments.
Sometimes it is nothing more than telling the other person that you find the situation to be unhealthy and so you wish to limit contact.
Sometimes it is as severe as moving away from abuse an not giving out your contact information to anyone who might provide those details to the person you need the distance from.
Start small if you have to.
Learn how to tell people when they are perpetuating your unhealthy patterns and do something to change the direction things are heading.
You can do this with all the relationships in your life in order to consciously choose to nurture healthier relationships while phasing out the healthy ones.
It's a daily progression from point A to point B, but it is one that can be handled with your own desire for strength and health in the forefront of your decision making process.