Relationships are hard. They take up time and effort, and sometimes they can be emotionally draining. But sometimes, they can be amazing and bring you so much happiness.

People usually associate being in a relationship with being happy. Society tells us basically if you're single, you should be miserable, and once you're in a relationship, then your life is good. This can be detrimental to people; you can’t base your happiness off of one person.

If you’re not happy with who you are as a person, and you’re dissatisfied with your life, getting into a relationship isn’t going to change that. Sure, for some time you might be happier for a little because obviously, who doesn’t like having someone who cares about you?

But you can’t rely on one person just to make you happy. What happens when that person decides that your relationship just isn’t what they want anymore? If you put all of your happiness onto that one person, you’re going to be left with feeling worse than how you felt before.

The better you feel about yourself, the more likely your relationship will be better and more fulfilling. Self-esteem issues can be crippling to a relationship because you're going to be in that constant fear of losing that person. Or you can find yourself in a toxic relationship with someone who treats you poorly because you think that's all you deserve.

With low self-esteem comes letting people treat us badly. If we don’t love ourselves, it's like putting partners on this non-existent pedestal, letting them take advantage of the love you give them.

Before committing to another person, you have to commit to yourself, and you have to love yourself for who you are before you can be happy with someone else. You’re more than likely to have multiple relationships in your lifetime. Some of those will end badly and seem like the end of the world, but that heartbreak can be a little easier if you’re happy with who you are, and you love the person you have become throughout your life.

The happiness that comes from within yourself is stronger than anything else.