“When love beckons you, follow him, though his ways are hard and steep." - Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

Not every relationship is meant to be. In fact, most aren't. Whether it was a clean break or not, the following 62 people shared how they found out the hard way their relationship had come to an end.

1. "Because he couldn't handle me at my worst, let alone at my best."
2. "She was controlling and suffocated my independence."
   
3. "I slept with someone else and realized I didn't love him."
4. "I thought it was what she wanted."
5. "I have commitment issues."
6. "She loved me more than I loved her. And I couldn't make myself love her like that."
7. "The first time we broke up was because I cheated on him several times and told him. I was also emotionally abusive at times. The second time we broke up was because there was still resentment there and neither of us were actually ready to get back together. I still have feelings for him but I know it's highly unlikely we'll get back together. I didn't treat him well and he deserves a clean slate with someone that will treat him well. To be honest I still miss him every day."
8. "He was a closeted cunt bitch."
9. "He was 10 years older than me and emotionally manipulative. Five years later, I was older and experienced enough to realize how messed up the relationship was and, after he'd made no effort to even get his license or a job, I found the strength to leave."
   
10. "I realized I was gay."
11. "Cheating."
12. "She wanted to focus on school... in fifth year of secondary."
13. "He ignored me for two days and then finally texted me saying he no longer wanted to be tied down. That he wanted to enjoy his college years on his own."
14. "I had a dating app on my phone, and he assumed I was cheating."
15. "I'm not a very religious person but to him religion was very important. Then about 2 months in he got me a gift, it was a bible and I pretended to be happy about it and I saw a name on the bottom corner and got excited and was like 'oh shit the author of the bible has the same name as me that's so rad' and it turned out to just be a bible with my name personalized on it. He then told me I should make time to read it and then broke up with me."
16. "Distance."
17. "I didn't feel good enough for him."
18. "He just told me he didn't have feelings for me anymore."
19. "We'd dated for three years and I was happy to be in love with my best friend. One day, after I'd been going through a rough time and hadn't been myself for a month or so, she told me that I wasn't her best friend anymore and her new best friend was a guy we go to school with. It went up in flames after that."
20. "He moved to Florida."
21. "He said he wasn't happy anymore and didn't want to work on it. So he ended it."
22. "Their family hated me."
23. "He had to go to camp and didn't want to be tied down."
24. "We both have our own issues, and mine we're too much for him. He was very suicidal already and I had stressed him out more. So after a year and three months in a relationship he broke up with me because he couldn't keep making himself feel like that."
25. "He cheated on me with a really close friend of mine. They went on to date for two years until he cheated on her with one of her friends, too."
26. "I found out that I wasn't attracted to guys and we parted as friends."
27. "He neglected me and basically cheated on me."
28. "She romanticized my mental health and basically wanted me to do the same to hers."
29. "I finally realized he didn't love ke as much as I loved him and staying with him any longer wouldn't change that."
30. "He was selfish."
31. "We were in an open relationship but I was a virgin. We had sex and the next day he told me we just 'didn't have a connection.'"
32. "He was using me for sex and I finally told him no."
33. "We were both leaving for college in totally opposite directions. Now that I think of it, we didn't really have all that much in common. On the day of the break up, I was at his house and still stayed for dinner because they cooked my favorite meal and I stayed for a movie. Probably the weirdest ending to a breakup as it felt like it didn't even happen before dinner."
34. "Distance mainly, with time however with time I realized differences between us and a general lack of emotional interest in her on my behalf, how ever that was long after we broke up."
35. "Our views on life were totally different. Also my friends hated him. "
36. "I wanted to live in New York and they were against it."
37. "He was a very jealous person and would get angry when I hung out with my guy friends."
38. "Frankly, he was emotionally abusive and had escalated it to a point of it leading to physical abuse so I moved out. I would have done so earlier but finances held me back."
39. "He was a sweetheart but we had grown apart because I had 5 more years of education than he had and heading into my 6th. We couldn't talk about the same things anymore and to be honest I was getting bored. It was more like having a puppy than a boyfriend by the end."
40. "She drunk texted me one night while she was out and I was in studying for a final. She basically aired out everything she hated about me, everything that drove her crazy. When I saw her the next day after my final, she tried to ignore that it even happened. I knew we wouldn't be able to recover from that and we broke it off a couple days later."
41. "One day I randomly got a Facebook message from a random girl telling me that my boyfriend was cheating on me. (Turns out it was the sister of the girl who he cheated on me with). When I confronted him, he admitted to everything and said he had been cheating on me the entire time we were together. So I did what any level-headed gal would do....slapped him (hard) across the face. He then proceeded to cry hysterically and beg for forgiveness. I smiled, not shedding a tear, got in my car, drove away and never looked back."
42. "He didn't respect me at all. He didn't have as much confidence in me as I had, and didn't support me endeavors. I finally decided I was worth more than that and deserved better."
43. "He only wanted a fuck buddy and didn't know how to break it to me for three months."
44. "I broke up with him. He was taking things way too fast (meeting family and stuff) and he wasn't who I thought he was (not very political correct)."
45. "He wanted to 'test his sexuality' by fucking my best friend. After I found out, I made out with his former bully in front of his face (yeah, i'm petty like that). And he left me."
46. "He went back into the closet."
47. "He didn't trust me. He listened to other girls who were jealous of our relationship."
48. "Control issues."
49. "He was possessive, manipulative, and controlling."
50. "We broke up many many times, he was violent with me and used to beat me every other day, never in my face so people wouldn't notice. I used to break up with him, feel like shit, then ask him to get back together. I did this like six time but the last time, I just couldnt take it anymore. I was finally done."
51. "After two years, we realized we were just too opposite."
52. "We lived too far away."
53. "Because of her family and religion."
54. "We were abusing each other and then she cheated on me."
55. "I am uncomfortable with most physical contact, and apparently that set them off."
56. "He was still in love with his ex girlfriend."
57. "He was a lying, cheating, mentally and physically abusive guy."
58. "My last girlfriend broke up with me because Whatsapp didn't send my messages, so she thought I was ignoring her. She didn't trust me."
59. "She was too emotional, and I wasn't attracted to her."
60. "Couldn't handle the long distance relationship."
61. "She didn't know we were dating apparently."
62. "She said 'God said no' to our relationship."