- A break-up doesn't mean a relationship has failed.
- Unnecessary fights and monotonous conversations are common signs that a break-up is overdue.
- When there are more negatives than positives in your relationship, both you and your partner deserve more.
Instagrammer and sex educator Zoe Ligon recently shared some important wisdom (gleaned from her time attending a sex-positive conference) with her 128,000 followers: "Relationships are NOT more important than the individuals within it," she wrote. "Ended relationships are not failed relationships. You can have all the relationships you want, or don't want."
Breakups often do seem like a failure - to yourself, your partner, and others' expectations of you - and avoiding that feeling is often why we stay in relationships for far longer than they serve us.
But if we can start to think of a breakup as something other than failure, that leaves an important question: How do we know when it's time to walk away?
To find out, I talked to two people who know more about this than I do: Shannon Smith, resident dating expert at Plenty of Fish and relationship expert and divorce attorney Vikki Ziegler, who also starred on BRAVO's show "Untying the Knot."
Here are a few signs that your relationship isn't working anymore.