HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS ARE SOMETHING YOU MAKE, NOT SOMETHING YOU FIND

When it comes to dating and relationships, you can’t just keep doing the same things over again and expect different results. If you want better relationships, you’ve got to start by making wiser, better, and healthier choices!

As you reflect on what you want out of your relationships this upcoming year, here are some mistakes that you may need to recognize that you’ve made and then try to engage in healthier dating relationships:

Dating Mistakes: #1 – Stop Letting the Wrong People Into Your Life

One of the biggest relationship mistakes people make has less to do with what they do in a relationship, and more to do with who they choose to enter a relationship with.

We can spend so much time thinking about what we want in someone without ever taking the time to think through what we don’t want—and what we won’t settle for. When it comes to finding love, there are some red flags that simply cannot be ignored if we want to be in a healthy relationship.

Think through the people you allowed into your life and ask yourself if they were the kind of people who built you up, or tore you down. Healthy relationships will always add more to your life than they take.

Dating Mistakes: #2 – Don’t Allow Your Physical Relationship to Lead the Way

And we’re not just talking about sex here.

When it comes to dating, it’s easy to allow the physical interactions of your relationship to take the lead before you know what happened. But over and over again I hear from teens that they regret getting physical too soon!

There is certainly a time and place for physical affection in a dating relationship, but letting the physical lead the way will always skew your judgment, heighten your emotions and fool you in one way or another. When the physical attributes of your relationship take control, they have the power to ruin a relationship. That’s something worth avoiding as you strive for healthy relationships.

Dating Mistakes: #3 – Stop Believing that You Are Worth Less

There is so much truth to the concept that you will always attract the kind of relationship you believe you deserve. We tend to both attract and choose people who are similar to us in our level of emotional and spiritual health. In the end, we always attract the kind of relationship we think we’re worth. 

Maybe part of the problems you’ve had in your past is that you didn’t believe you are worth more. Maybe you’ve allowed yourself to settle for relationships that you knew, deep down, were not for your good. As you move into this new school year, take the time to consider what you are worth and how that plays into your relationship choices.