Putting other before myself is something that at its essence, is something that I think society has somewhat pushed upon me. As a female, we are constantly told that we always have to be nice, not hurt people's feelings, and always give the benefit of the doubt. When we find ourselves in relationships with problematic people, we are regularly told that we need to stay around and help the person out, and if we leave, we are blamed for the fallout.

Over the past couple of years, I have begun to notice how this mentality is not only harmful to oneself, but also for those around us. Time and time again I realized I had found myself in situations or relationships where I consistently leave feeling sad, angry or stressed out. Normally, we are told that we should stick it out and just try to make it work, but why would we do this? If I am cooking and my hand is getting burnt, do I keep my hand on the burner hoping it won't get worse or do I move my hand away?

I feel as though we should start looking at how we treat our relationships in the same way. If they are hurting you, stressing you out, or just are generally a grievance in your life; do not feel obligated to stay in it. Sure, there is an awkward transition period and maybe some uncomfortable confrontation, but at the end of the day you are left with one less thing that takes away your happiness.

Now obviously I am not saying that we shouldn't support others through difficult times or forgive people, but if we have done this and nothing has changed, then we should end these relationships. The only reason we keep these types of damaging relationships around is not to hurt the other person, but I feel like we need to be a bit "selfish" in these moments. Happiness is such a fragile state of being sometimes; we need to do all we can to keep it alive.

All I am trying to say is that we as people, but especially women, have to stop living by this hidden rule of choosing others' happiness over our own. We have to start making some difficult decisions because, at the end of the day, all you can truly control fully is your own happiness.