Broken relationships are painful, awkward, and often very difficult to fix. Sometimes, it can be easy to feel like it’s time to give up, especially when you both know it’s broken. When all signs seem to suggest it should be over, how do you know it’s still worth trying to stay together?
The truth is that a relationship stops working when any one party decides to throw in the towel. If you both still have your hats in the ring of your battle against your problems, it might be a relationship worth saving.
Here Are 10 Signs You Should Fight For A Broken Relationship
1. Your Problems Are Fixable
Take a step back and think about the difficulties you face in your relationship. If you realize that, once you put down your ego and focus on what’s important, every issue you both face is fixable and solvable, it’s a sign that it’s a relationship worth saving. Now, there are some issues that can mean a broken relationship might not be worth fixing. These may include:
- Abuse
- Betrayal
- Cheating
- Lying
- Manipulation
- Incompatible goals
- Going overboard during fights
- A lack of willingness to fix things
If the problems you and your partner face are not these huge deal-breakers, that usually means they can be fixed – and you can fix them if you both put aside your pride and make a real effort to grow together.
Your gut feeling may also scream at you that you can still make it work. Listen to yourself, and listen to what you logically know. If you and your partner both express a desire to make it work, and neither of you has caused problems that cannot be solved at all, there is still hope.
2. You Are Physically Attracted To Each Other
In many cases, partners in a relationship may stop feeling physical attraction to each other as they grow apart. Many people overlook desire as a crucial part of an allosexual relationship, but it can really have a positive effect on your bond as a whole.
If you and your partner still feel attracted to one another and want to be intimate with each other, there’s likely hope for your relationship. If you’ve both grown bored of each other and no longer turn each other on, there’s little point sticking around.
Another similar sign is that you both still try to look good for each other. If you’re making an effort to appear attractive, it’s difficult for you not to enjoy each other’s appearance!
3. You Fight Healthily
Yes, at this exact moment in time, as you’ve both frustratedly yelled at each other and walked away seething in an attempt to cool off, you probably “hate” each other. But even in your most intense fights, you continue to maintain respect for each other. This means you and your partner don’t:
- Insult each other
- Get personal
- Threaten to leave if the other person doesn’t listen to you
- Turn an argument into a blame game
- Manipulate each other
- Show signs of verbal or physical violence
- Threaten self-harm or suicide
- Shout over each other
- Belittle or invalidate the other person’s opinions or feelings
- Bring up old baggage
Instead, when you fight, you:
- Fight together against the problem
- Listen to what the other person has to say
- Are clear about what the problem is
- Stay on track and are determined to solve the issue
- Try to communicate effectively
- Take a break if you need to
- Look for compromises
4. You Don’t Care About The Other Fish In The Sea
Think about what would happen if you and your partner did break up or end things with each other. You’d suddenly be out in a big dating pool full of eligible singles, all who will be completely different from your partner. You’ll be free to have one-night stands, flirt around, and hook up with a crush.
Does none of that excite you? In fact, does it just turn you off completely? Do you refuse to think about being with anyone else? That’s a sign that you should fight for a broken relationship. It shows that, despite all your problems, your partner is still your number one, and you want to be with them. You can’t imagine anyone else by your side.
Do note that this shouldn’t stem from a fear of being single in general. It shouldn’t be about the anxiety that comes with being out of a safe relationship. Instead, it should be about your lack of interest in general in other people, even if they have qualities your partner lacks.
5. You Have Helped One Another Grow
You always should surround yourself with friends, family, and people who lift you up. If you and your partner have lifted each other up consistently and haven’t ever tried to drag the other down, there’s hope yet for the broken relationship.
Partners who bring out the best of each other are worth fighting for. You can rest assured and practice positive thinking knowing that your relationship can survive just about anything.
6. You Make Each Other Smile
It’s hard to smile when you’re fighting – but there are still many, many times that both of you laugh, chuckle, and grin together. Your inside jokes never get old. They know just how to cheer you up, and you do the same for them easily.
Someone who makes you smile is someone you can be happy with. If there’s just something about your partner that puts a smile on your face, it’s totally valid to fight to keep that amazing gift in your life.
7. You Are Best Friends
Temporary attraction, or superficial romance, can cause two people to stay together for a long, long time. You can love someone without liking them or who they are. You can enjoy the romance without really wanting to just hang out with a person casually.
Due to uncalled-for “friend-zone” jokes, many people scoff at the idea of being best friends with their partners – but it’s a very positive dynamic to have, and an important one if you want to keep fighting to stay together. Some signs your partner is your best friend include:
- You go to each other about good news, bad news, problems, stories, and everything else.
- They always make you smile or laugh.
- You can do nothing together and feel comfortable and happy.
- You share many things in common or try to get into the things the other person likes.
- You can truly relax and be yourself around them.
- Conversations about nothing, in particular, can last hours and be entertaining.
- You really have a lot of honest fun with your partner, without doing anything overly romantic.
- You go to your partner for advice.
When you’re best friends with your partner, you have a strong foundation of trust, togetherness, and understanding. That, alone, can be enough to make you want to fight for a broken relationship.
8. You Always Respect Each Other
You and your partner value each other as individuals. You think the world of each other, even when you’re mad. So even at times when you’re completely at odds, you always make sure not to cross certain lines, and you never think poorly of your partner, even when they infuriate you. Respect in a broken relationship also means that both of you:
- Refuse to badmouth each other to friends and family
- Never insult each other, even in your thoughts
- Care about the other person’s side of the argument
- Listen to and attempt to understand each other’s differing opinions
- Are careful not to hit below the belt during heated arguments (and don’t say things you’ll regret later)
- Appreciate and validate the other person’s opinions, even if you don’t agree with them, and even if that’s why you’re arguing
- Communicate clearly, never expecting “subtle hints” to be understood and never giving the cold shoulder
- Don’t ever aim to hurt the other person
- Support each other wholeheartedly
If you and your partner still respect each other and want to be together, you can – and should – try to save the relationship.
9. Time Never Feels Wasted
Sometimes, partners in a broken relationship lament over the time they’ve wasted with that person. They think about all that they’ve invested into their partner and wish they’d never done it. If you can’t relate at all to these statements, you can still fight for your relationship.
When you think about the months or years you’ve been together, you don’t feel any sense of regret. You smile and feel proud that all that time was dedicated to this one special, incredible person – even if some of that time involved fighting, disagreements, or rough patches.
And, on top of that, even when you look back at the bad times, you still wouldn’t change much. You embrace your ups and downs wholeheartedly. You could never regret choosing to be with your partner – and therefore, there’s a good chance you won’t regret giving yourselves another shot.
10. You Can’t See A Future Without Them
At the end of the day, when you’re in a committed relationship, it’s because you want to be with that person for the rest of your life, or at least for the foreseeable future. If that has changed, and you can no longer envision a life with them, it’s time to call it quits.
But what if you try so hard to imagine your world without your partner in it, but just can’t? What if every single time you think about your future, they’re always a part of it? What if you feel heartache when you try to think about a life without them? If that’s the case, start getting your positive thinking going, because you should be fighting for the relationship.
Sure, sometimes you get mad at each other. But even then, when you think about it, you can’t help still envisioning that future together – and your partner does, too. It’s not because it’s safe, and it’s not because it’s easy – it’s because you want that future. So make it happen!
Final Thoughts On Some Signs You Should Fight For A Broken Relationship
There’s no one-size-fits-all sign that suggests your relationship should be fought for. Do note that any one of these signs doesn’t necessarily mean your relationship is worth saving, but ticking off multiple signs certainly suggests it. If you and your partner are willing to put in the hard work to recover and grow stronger together, there’s nothing you can’t do.
