1. You stay with someone because you guys are comfortable with each other and have been together a long time. But secretly you both know it's over and won't do anything about it, so you keep going through the motions of pretending you're in a fulfilling relationship until something gives, and one or both of you either (1) does something you regret, or (2) finally calls it off.
2. You date someone who's either an old-school machista or whose family is. True story: One Cosmo for Latinas editor says an ex-boyfriend's father told him that she literally "spoke up too much." Moral of this cautionary tale: Don't date someone whose father thinks you have too many opinions or who doesn't understand why you might want to hold a job or get an education or do any basic human things you're entitled to. It's 2014, and no one has time for that shit anymore.
3. If you're sexually active, you don't get tested for STDs regularly. It may not seem sexy to think about it, but many STIs/STDs don't have obvious symptoms, so it's possible that a lot of people don't even know they have an STD. Plus, STDS disproportionately affect Latinas at a higher rate than they do non-Hispanic women. Bottom line? Better safe than sorry.
4. You try to convince yourself you're really into someone you're not because you're convinced it's better than being alone. And that it doesn't matter that you guys don't have anything in common or that you have to order a second glass of wine just to make hearing his lame jokes even a little bit bearable, or that he hates Jane the Virgin and The Mindy Project, or that his favorite book is The Fountainhead. (What? That book is terrible.)
5. You passive aggressively unload all your relationship drama on Facebook. Raise your hand if you know of at least one person who's done this! See? It's like a rite of passage you have to go through in your early 20s before you wake up one day and realize Facebook is actually the worst and you don't want to have to witness your BFF's relationship unravel through social media and no one wants to be roped into yours either.
6. You try to change the person you're seeing. Even if it's something as seemingly simple as what he wears. You have to like him for who he is, or he'll be miserable and end up resenting you.
7. Conversely, you date someone who tries to change you. Same as above: Don't date someone who tries to make you feel bad about who you are. You deserve to find someone who likes you for you.
8. When things fade out after a couple of days, you agonize over what went wrong.Probably nothing except you guys went out on three dates and there was no chemistry and you didn't even really want to go out with him again anyway.
9. You date that guy who's really just looking for a surrogate mom. And wants you to do his laundry, cook him meals, pay his bills, and basically get his life together for him. Learn to boil water, dude (it's not hard), and get used to doing your own laundry. It builds character.
10. You always put your S.O.'s needs before yours. When it comes to deciding what movie to watch, that can be fine once in a while, but when it turns into you guys always doing what your S.O. wants to do, it gets really annoying.
11.You get too close to his family too soon. As in, they won't stop texting or calling you. Ever.
12. You let him get too close to your family too soon. And then if you break up, your mom orabuela will forever ask you, "What happened to that nice boy you were dating who'd come over and play basketball with your brother?"
13. You stay with someone because you love his family. Which sounds a little weird, but, like, his mom is awesome! You and his sister have a great time together, and breaking up means not only saying good-bye to him, but also to spending time with his family, and that can be hard.
14. You stay with someone because of the sex. When you guys clearly have nothing else in common. Great sex does not a great relationship make.
15. You don't listen to your friends when they tell you the guy you're dating is a jerk. It's hard, because when you're in ~*lOvE*~ you just don't want to see it, but if more than one of your friends tells you this, it's probably a good sign he's a complete tool.
16. You ditch your friends for your new guy. We all have that friend who goes MIA when she starts dating someone new. Don't be that person. Your friends are the ones who were there for you before you started dating that guy, and if you guys break up, they'll be there for you long after he's gone.
17. You fight to be with someone who clearly couldn't give a shit. Because you just want to make it work so bad and he says all the right things, but when he won't so much as reschedule a gym date to spend time with you on your birthday, he has got to go. He just does.
