How do you communicate with a difficult partner?

I’ve always struggled in romantic relationships. For a long time, I chalked it up to having “liking assholes.” That is simply not the case & completely minimizes what I’ve been through, and my role in accepting poor behavior and abuse in partnerships.

I joke that I’ve been training my whole life for this work, but it’s not a joke. I HAVE been. After growing up in an abusive home and living in survival mode for a long time, I found myself in toxic relationships time and time again. I even took two years off of dating, sex, and even thinking about flirting, and thought I was “healed” (and so did my therapist) only to realize I wasn’t the moment I got back out there. It took a global pandemic for me to pause, accept myself, and finally deal with and start to heal my trauma.