“ love doesn’t make you do crazy things like this, this isn’t love”. You are asking yourself, did she really use Jerry Springer as an introduction. Yes…..I did! I know that this is a fictional tv show, but her response was real; so is the reality many of us live by.

“ We need to stop normalizing toxic behaviors and categorizing it as “Love ”

Many people may not have had the appropriate role models in their lives to model what healthy versus unhealthy relationships are suppose to look like. They come from a dysfunctional home. Consequently, it's not uncommon for them to repeat the same patterns and enter into dysfunctional relationships as well. If you grew up seeing your parents constantly fighting and disrespecting each other; its not surprising that your relationship may have similar characteristics, where you find yourself fighting repeatedly even to the point of physical or verbal abuse. It's insane how we can rationalize unhealthy behaviors with “ he loves me, he didn’t mean to put his hands on me…..it only happened once…..everyone fights like this…don’t they? Girl….love makes you do crazy things….Let us pause for a moment while I knock some sense into you( figuratively of course). No Honey, love does not make you do these things or make someone disrespect or mistreat you. We need to stop normalizing toxic behaviors and categorizing it as “Love”.

Question of the day: Who has been your role model in your personal life to illustrate/model what a healthy relationship is suppose to look like?