Toxic relationships come in many varieties. A few might include constant fighting where the blame is always placed on you or having your feelings neglected. Your partner might be messing around with other people while still claiming to stay true to you; creating a false hope that you are being loyal and so are they. As well, and most dangerous, physical/mental/emotional abuse. It doesn't matter if you're in a boy/girl relationship or boy/boy, girl/girl, etc.— Toxic relationships can affect anyone without them even realizing.

I myself was in a toxic relationship for a year and a half. A lot of people tend to judge those who have stayed in that for so long. A small sum of you reading this may have even thought to yourself, "Why would you do that to yourself? It's your own fault for staying." But it's not completely our fault. In most toxic relationships, things don't go downhill until a length of the partnership.

Things for my relationship didn't go bad until about seven to eight months in. We started constantly fighting and, at some point, he raised his first hand to me. I was shocked but when he apologized and said he did it out of pure anger I believed him. By then, we had both said that we loved each other. So, up until that point, everything was perfection and I was so in love with him that I saw past his anger issues.

Things got even worse, but I continued to blame it on myself for doing something wrong all the time.

The number of times I would get phone calls or texts or even speeches in person about how he didn't love me anymore were countless. And, each time, my heart would break away a small piece. I would spend nights crying until the sun came up again, trying to figure out what I was doing that made him not love me but still stay with me instead of just leaving. When my parents found out the details of the relationship, they told me to call it quits. I was upset because I thought I truly loved him and needed him, but I did what they said anyway.

Now, before I go on, I want all of you to think of this as a gash on your knee. What do you do when you get a big cut? You put a Band-Aid on it. Picture leaving as getting a gash, and recovering as placing bandages over the mark in your leg.

The first couple of weeks after I left, I cried every night. I debated unblocking his number and calling him and begging for his forgiveness. I resisted. I cried some more and thought that I would never get anyone to love me again. I added many new people on my social media accounts and started chats with them to put myself out there, but nothing helped.

The Band-Aid I had placed on had not done a good job, as the blood from the gash was leaking through.

In the first two months, I had gotten myself to finally go out more. I made new friends and decided that I needed to try to let it go. However, I tripped over the rock of memories while cleaning out my room and stumbled onto my face. I threw out everything I could and stored away everything I couldn't. After an emotional room cleaning, I was okay again.

I went out with new boys and didn't rush into things. I took my time and got to see the difference of what I had versus what was out there treating me nicely. I was out every weekend with friends, boys, or at get-togethers. However, I still had my fair share of nights spent crying.

This Band-Aid that I placed on had done the job, but when I took it off, it was still pretty full with blood.

By the next month, holiday season was coming around and I was completely okay with spending it with my family and not anyone else. I had gotten a new job that I loved and saw my friends all the time still. I got a new tattoo and celebrated my birthday with the people who loved me most. The boys I talked to came and went, but some stayed to become great friends. I found myself not afraid to laugh and to express myself more. I would still cringe in pain at memories of us, but I didn't find them coming to my mind as often.

The Band-Aid was less bloodied when I took it off.

The new year rolled around and I spent it with my family. I was ready to try and leave my past in 2016, but I knew it wasn't going to be easy. I went back to school after winter break and reconnected with the friends that really missed me. It felt good to have so many people around me seeing me as an equal of them instead of breaking me down. I didn't associate the word 'love' with his person anymore. I realized what he and I had wasn't love at all.

The Band-Aid was slightly red this time.

Now, here we are in June of 2017. I am out almost every day with my friends or on new adventures. I have a new job, I babysit, and I have a new partner. He came into my life unexpectedly in the midst of recovering, and right away I knew he was different. We were so similar with our stories yet so different. We have been dating for almost 6 months now and, so far, I have realized that this is what love is supposed to feel like.

Love isn't belittling someone, it's making them feel like they are the greatest gift, to keep them going and inspire them to do the best they can. Things that I have now I never knew were important in the past. Instead of barely talking to my partner all day and fighting, it's more 'Good morning, have you eaten?' and 'You've been doing so amazing lately and I'm so glad you're mine'. I find myself smiling and really meaning it.

However, not everything is always perfect. Sometimes shadows from the past come back to haunt me. I always am afraid of being hit again, being cheated on, or being made out to be horrible constantly. But it's okay. Everything takes time to clear up and go away, and luckily I have a great support system and my partner telling/showing me how this is nothing like the past.

Instead of missing my ex and getting upset when I remember what was there, I get happy that I am away from that and proud of myself for making it so far in life from what I thought I never would get out of. I feel thankful that my parents cared enough to stop what was happening. I feel happy that I am in such a good spot with some great new (and old) friends and have had such awesome adventures. Most importantly, I am glad I can wake up with a smile and want to get out of bed and start the day.

I have not written this article to get pity or to throw shade at my ex. There is no need for that, as I said, the past concerning him and I doesn't matter anymore and I don't want people feeling sorry for either of us. I am happy and I'm sure he is too. I wrote this because I know for a fact that a huge chunk of people might be experiencing the same thing as I was; maybe in a worse form.

So, if you are reading this and indeed you are in something like that, please follow what I did. Get a support system and tell them. Call a hotline to speak to someone, just do not stay. Putting yourself in something like that and staying there will take everything away from you. Your confidence, your happiness, anything.Think of it like a Band-Aid like I did, and take little steps at a time. And if you have left a situation like mine, then congratulations. I am so happy for you.

You are amazing and you deserve the world. Go out there and kick butt.

Oh, and where is my Band-Aid now you might ask? In the trash. The gash has healed completely, without leaving a scar.