It is all too often that people in general believe that it is easy to remove yourself from a toxic relationship. A person has got to be able to see that they are in this kind of relationship first, then have the emotional strength to leave. If you live long enough with a person, sometimes you become accustomed to being treated with no respect. You actually believe that it is o.k to be treated in a fashion that most people would cringe at.
If a study was done, I would almost bet that many domestic abuse cases that come to the attention of the police have to do with a toxic relationship. Domestic violence ,and in a lot of cases, murder is the end result. The person at the receiving end of the toxicity wakes up and realizes the years that they have been put down, talked to in condescending manner and on some occasions , laughed at, the most dehumanizing aspect of a toxic relationship.
One of the biggest stepping stones for getting out of a toxic relationship is having the confidence to do so. How do you just walk out on twenty or thirty years of marriage? Being a co-dependant for so many years has left you with so many mixed emotions. You have spent years on the receiving end of someone who overall is a very negative person and will drag you down with them.
To recover from the years of abuse at the hands of someone else will take constant deep breaths as that is what you will have to do to get through the pain. It will certainly not be one of the easiest things you have ever had to do, leave a toxic relationship but it will be hopefully one of the best things you ever did. In the beginning you will think your whole world is falling apart and you have no identity.
It will not be an easy thing to do, leave a relationship of so many years. You have spent so many years getting beaten up but once you are away from the situation and can build up your confidence, your whole world will turn around.
It will take a lot of time to recover if indeed you ever do recover fully because all of this did not happen over night and will not repair itself overnight.
Personally, I have been in a very toxic relationship. My whole world was wrapped around pleasing another person. You don't have to just be in a marriage to be in a toxic relationship. This was a very close friend. She had me feeling incredibly stupid and my confidence level was terribly low. Recovering from this toxic relationship was one of the best feelings as I was free now from that hold that a toxic person seems to have.