Hi, I really need advice and tips on how to stay away from a prolonged toxic dynamic. I have been in this situation for on and off for around 8 years now. We lived together for a number of years but blending families did not work and I was very unhappy. I felt that his kids dominated the relationship and his ex wife was a
huge issue as well. I asked him to leave and it didn’t end well, it had become increasingly volatile. I feel weak and pathetic as I then went back and “tried again”. Three years on the same issues have arisen, I know it is no good for me: when we get on it’s great but our differences have now started to become profound (we don’t live together I live with my son) I believe now that I went back because I was scared of being “alone”. I’m not really sure where to go from here, I’m in my 40s, I can’t seem to maintain healthy relationships. I was married prior to him and with the same man since university and basically “settled”. I feel a bit lost. I have friends locally, I have a good job that fits in around my child, I’m just not where I thought I would be at this stage in my life, I go through periods of feeling positive and today I am now in a bad slump again.