Okay, so you are in a relationship and you are finding things are starting to get a bit confusing. You may be feeling like the relationship has run its course, or maybe that you are just not being honest with yourself. You could be merely pretending to be happy, or maybe you are afraid of what the next step will be. These are signs of a troubled relationship and can plague the person or put strain on a possibly already damaged relationship. One of the more common feelings is guilt over lying and hiding your true feelings about the relationship and its status. There once was a great deal of love in the relationship, but now there are a lot of mixed feelings and factors that are contributing to the mixed feelings that you may be feeling.

When you have begun to consider your troubled relationship, it is important to brainstorm what sort of things that you want and what you do not want in your relationship. The latter can include not wanting to be cheated on, abused and ignored and so on. When it comes to items that you want to have happen, these can include wanting to grow and develop emotionally. You may want more excitement and romance in your relationship. Sometimes you want intellectual and spiritual stimulation, including discussions and attending outside meetings and events.

Once you have a list of your wants and desires, you need to go through them and identify which ones you truly want and which ones are not all that important. You need to figure out what sort of situation you are in and whether or not it will continue on its current track. Observe your partner and try and figure out if they are capable of growth and doing their part to help turn your troubled relationship around. They need to be able to contribute to the repair of the relationship and move it forward.

If things are truly bad, then you need to step back and see things with a clear head. This may simply involve separating temporarily, so that you and your partner can take the time alone to evaluate the situation without distraction. Without having to live together and deal with all of the stresses of being together, both of you will have a clearer head which will provide the basis for a true evaluation of the situation.

What you may find is that the relationship is such that you two cannot be together and that you need to end the relationship. Some relationships are not meant to be and that should not discourage you. There will be someone for you. If you do find that you and your significant other are capable of making things work in your troubled relationship, then make sure that you and your partner are open and communicative. Without communication, it will be more difficult.

A troubled relationship does not necessarily mean that the end is near. What it does mean is that you and your partner need to take the steps to work things out and move the relationship forward, whether that is towards its end or continuation.