Cheating means betraying your person’s trust. It means letting down someone who would have given you the world. Someone who planned on spending forever with you. Someone who honestly believed that you would never hurt them. Someone who thought that you were different than the rest. Someone who gave you a chance. Someone who handed you their heart and trusted that you would treat it carefully.

Cheating means forcing your person to rethink the entire relationship. It means giving them a reason to replay old memories to figure out where they missed the red flags. It means giving them a reason to wonder whether they are too unattractive for you, whether they are bad in bed, whether they are ultimately unlovable.

Cheating makes your person — the one person who you were supposed to make happy — feel self-conscious. It makes them doubt themselves. It makes them think lesser of themselves even though you were the only person who did something wrong.

Cheating means destroying a lifelong friendship, because things will never be the same between the two of you. Your person will never be able to look at you the same. Your person will never be able to trust you the way they used to. Your person will never forgive you for what you have done to them.

Cheating means giving your person baggage that they will struggle to carry for the rest of their life. Even if they manage to move on from you and put their heart on the line again, even if they end up in a healthy relationship sometime in the future, there will always be doubt in the back of their mind. They will always be a little bit paranoid. They will always wonder if they are being used again. They will always wonder whether this new person is going to hurt them in the same way that you once did.

Cheating means deceiving your person repeatedly on purpose. Even if you call drunkenly kissing someone else a mistake, it wasn’t one mistake. It was a mistake when you flirted with them. It was a mistake when you invited them over. It was a mistake when you let them touch you. It was a mistake when you didn’t tell them to leave. It was a mistake when you let your lips touch. Cheating isn’t just one giant mistake — it’s a million little ones.

Cheating means choosing yourself over your relationship. It means taking the selfish route. It means not caring how your actions are going to impact the person who means the most to you. It means that their feelings mean nothing to you.

Cheating means deciding to put your relationship second. To put your person second. It means that you aren’t willing to give up your temptations to dedicate your life to them. It means you don’t have what it takes to stay loyal, to give them what they deserve.

Cheating means you are capable of doing a shitty thing to someone you supposedly care about. It means your morals are skewed. It means you aren’t ready for a real relationship.