Most relationships have expiration dates. A relationship unraveling is like a sinking ship (Titanic comes to mind). The actual end of a relationship doesn't happen overnight, but overtime. A series of events, in no particular order, each leading to the same lone place: the sad and lonely end of another relationship. Relationships ending bring one of the most difficult experiences that people have to deal with in their lives. If you are in a relationship that may be ending, I wish you clarity and insight above all else.

1. YOU STOP ASKING ABOUT YOUR PARTNER'S DAY: Sure, there are exceptions to this rule. Couples married with screaming newborns, well, yes. But couples who relationships are about ending know exactly what this is. Once you stop asking how that person's day was, you have lost all interest in each other and you don't just care enough to make the relationship last over the long term. Not caring about your partner's day, keep in mind, is different from still caring but not asking because you are ma at the person for one reason or another.


2. YOU OR YOU PARTNER KEEPS PUSHING FOR SEX BUT THE OTHER HAS NO INTEREST: Many marriages- a lot more than married folks want to admit- survive without regular or frequent love making. Usually, though, the one who wants more sex reaches out to one of two points: the individual starts cheating or the individual finds a way to mentally accept the sacrifice. Usually though, it is often the former. But if one partner in a relationship keeps pushing for SEX, the relationship is going to suffer from endless conflicts that will most likely herald the end of the relationship.


3. THE TWO OF YOU HAVE BROKEN UP, ONLY TO COME BACK TOGETHER: In most relationships, someone who initiates an impulsive breakup, despite getting back the next day, week, month or years was experiencing a gut level, instinctive wish to break out of the relationship. So, even when this couple gets back together, the original feelings that caused the impulsive breakup are still there. For many of these relationships, getting back together only postpones the inevitable, but the clock continues to tick towards the relationship's inevitable expiration date.

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