1. Cultural expectations.

This is a big one for me. I was raised to believe that I should be in a romantic relationship at all times, and that my romantic relationship should be the centerpiece of my life. I’m not even saying that is a terrible way to think about love, but for me, what it led to was a belief that I need to be always dating someone, regardless of how much I liked him or how he treated me. Quantity over quality. I dated a guy who treated me terribly — because he was nice to me on the first date. I dated a guy who was openly cheating on me — out of fear of being alone. I dated a guy who I didn’t get along with at all — just because he wanted to date me.