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Dating Under the Influence

We all have that one friend who seems blinded by love. She’s the girl who swears she has finally found a good guy but there’s just something about him everyone seems to notice but her—Cheater? Opportunist? Plain ol’ jerk? He’s like her drug and it’ll take a serious intervention to snap her back to reality.

No matter how much you and your girlfriends try to hint to her that he’s no good, she just can’t see the light. This is called dating under the influence, another dangerous form of “DUI”. My ethics professor explained a set of hormones that releases when we are infatuated with someone or in love. It is so powerful that it does not allow you to process any criticism about them and has you deviating from what is right and ethical.

I was inspired to write about this because we’ve all been there—stayed with someone we knew everyone was right about but didn’t want to listen. I’m here to say, WAKE UP. Take your love struck head out of your a** and hear what your loved ones are telling you.

If every person in your life has the same negative opinion about your current love interest, everyone can’t be wrong.

*WARNING* If you are the friend of the naïve girl we’re talking about…. BREEEEATHE. I know it is one of the most frustrating things to hear her same problems and offer the same advice over and over again just to do it all over next week! Remember that ADVICE IS ADVICE. You cannot fault someone for not handling a situation as you would or not seeing it as clearly since they’re not on the outside looking in. Stay stern, be delicate with your words, and aware of her emotions.

That’s why it’s important to make sure the people you surround yourself with are true friends who have your best interest at heart. That way, when they offer their honest opinion, there’s no need to question their intentions or agenda.

More importantly, you normally always know deep down inside when a guy is a bad influence, if he’s taking advantage of you, using you, lying to you, is disrespectful towards you and others, etc. If you have to ask yourself if you’re in a bad situation, you probably are. Be your own best friend and get yourself out of a toxic relationship. I realize this all sounds more easily said than done. I understand there’s so much more to it than getting up and leaving. You may have been with him for 10 years or even share children with him…. but the ONE thing that would be worse than having shared so much time with him is wasting one more day not putting yourself first.