The first #real relationship you have is both the sweetest, best thing in the world, and the hardest, most soul-crushing thing in the world. Caring for somebody deeply is exciting and crazy in all the right ways, but learning all the lessons about heartbreak the first time 'round feels impossible until you make it through. A recent Ask Reddit thread asked people to reveal all the lessons they learned from those first relationships, and all of them are so, so real.
1. "You can convince yourself anything is fine if you don't think you have any other options." —DFP_
2. "When trust goes the relationship follows after." —44elite444
3. "How incredibly important it is to find someone that is of, or around, the same emotional and mental maturity as you. Also don't ignore red flags. If there is recurring behavior that gives you pause, listen to that feeling." —TacticalTruth
4. "Your partner is your best friend, but shouldn't be your ONLY friend." —Teaquanox
5. "That the both of you can be perfectly good people, but that doesn't always mean you're good for each other. And that's okay." —pistachio muffin
6. "That an end to a once beautiful relationship is something you can recover from." —pandafoxshark
7. "You're far better off finding someone you're compatible with than trying to mold the first person who shows interest into someone you'd actually want to date." —Just_Move_Out
8. "The thought process directly following an orgasm is a surprisingly effective gauge for how much you love a person." —dicklemytick
9. "You can't save someone, they have to save themselves." —StudebakerHotch
10. "People can totally mean something when they're with you, but have different priorities when you're absent." —Accent-man
11. "Long-distance sucks." —p1i1c1h1u
12. "You can, and will, get absolutely furious over shit that don't matter. Talk about your issues, it helps in the long run." —Amirax
13. "Just because you've invested so much time into a person doesn't mean you have to stick with them after you've fallen out of love with them." —-thisperson
14. "There are worse things than being single." —CatRugLZol
15. "Someone can claim to be completely in love with you one day and wake up the next day wanting nothing to do with you. And it's not always your fault." —string
16. "You can't just fix someone's problems for them no matter how much you care and no matter how much it hurts to see them suffer. The best you can do is be supportive." —improvyourfaceoff
17. "Try to be the partner you would want to have." —TheOne-ArmedMan
18. "Broken people will be a good fit for other broken people. But it can hurt like hell." —Cheniarg
19. "It hurts less to have a hard conversation now than to put them off." —revdrcanon
20. "Don't fall too hard too fast. We dated seriously for three years, but got emotionally serious way too fast. The fizzle was hard and fast on my end." —MadeSomewhereElse
21. "I deserve more than I always believed." —Aimless_Precision
22. "Don't put in more than you get back." —royal
23. "Equal ambition is a necessity to success in a relationship." —Kenner
24. "All the love in the world isn't enough." —JapaneseMercedes
25. "You have to be happy together and happy when you're apart." —BurstStream
