It’s a story many of us know all too well—staying in a relationship long past its expiration date, holding on despite the mutual inability to evolve, the unhappiness, or the gut feeling that something just isn’t right. Even when we recognize it's over, we often struggle to walk away. Why do we do this? And more importantly, how can we reclaim our emotional well-being and find the courage to choose something better for ourselves?

Stress management plays a major role in our daily relationship functioning. Experiencing elevated levels of stress may deplete the cognitive resources an individual is able to allocate to sustaining a relationship (Neff & Karney, 2009). Depending on the relationship, the life you've built together, and your personal meaning of the relationship, it can be very challenging to break up.

Studies show that relationship churning (on-again/off-again relationships) is reported by nearly half of young adults in their present or most recent relationship (Halpern-Meekin et al. 2013) and by one-fifth of parents in urban areas by their child’s ninth birthday (Turney and Halpern-Meekin 2021). The stressor of relationship transitions or instability, as opposed to partnership status, is strongly related to mental health (Osborne and McLanahan 2007).

Sex differences research consistently reports that males have a greater risk for suicidality after a relationship break-up (Evans et al., 2016), with divorced men being 8-times more likely to die by suicide compared to divorced women (Kposowa, 2003). Although men may conceal their distress publicly, they are more likely than women to anonymously seek help for........

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