I'm like, oh my God, like, please help.

Like, I wonder if anybody else is going through this.

Like, am I wrong for feeling this?

Like, I literally, I mean, honestly, this person, the way they were communicating with me had me feeling that I was crazy.

Welcome to how to, the show where people call in with their toughest questions and we find

the perfect expert to give them guidance.

I'm Carvel Wallace.

So I will not be the first person, nor will I be the last, to make the observation that

intimate relationships can be, let's say, messy.

I mean, sometimes the messiest ones are those that span years or even decades.

They might be on again or off again or they have hurts and then forgiveness and then more hurt.

And if you throw in addiction and abuse and maybe other toxic elements into the mix, what we

thought was a loving relationship might turn out to be something else entirely.

It's hard, or at least it can be hard, to get out of a relationship like that.

Like you still love the person or you think you do, and maybe it was like your fault a little bit.

And maybe if you stay, you can now figure out how to do it right, how to love them

into behaving better. But even then, it's hard to know what comes next if you do leave. Maybe this

relationship wasn't as bad as you thought it was. Maybe this was as good as it could get. And maybe

if you leave, you'll be consumed with resentment and regrets and grief.

And maybe it's just been too long.

Maybe this relationship is going to be stuck with you forever.

So, like, how do you move on?

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