20 People On The Single Most Important Lesson They Learned From Their Exes

1. “That men love who they are attracted to and women are attracted to who they love.” – Carly, 27

2. “That my body is as perfectly imperfect as I choose to see it, and that’s okay.” – Joan, 24

3. “That men are really protective about their mothers. Don’t say anything bad regarding them or they will hate you forever” – Heidi, 28

4. “No matter how hard you try to become something or someone else, you can’t. My past relationships have taught me that I should be grateful for the person I am right now and especially that I don’t have to change in order to please others.” – Maria, 34

5. “I learned it takes two committed people to make a marriage work. If only one is involved (my ex husband), it can’t function. I still regret not being close to him when he needed me the most (after his father’s funeral).” – Sandy, 30

6. “That smaller issues can develop into big issues over time. What I’m trying to say is that if you’re not very comfortable in the beginning with the sex, their flaws or the way you communicate, things won’t look brighter in the future. If you can’t stand stuff about them today, how will you be able to cope with those things in 5-6 years?” – Jeremy, 29

7. “My ex taught me how to swim, play basketball and fire a gun. I’d never have had the courage to even try on my own.” – Linda, 25

8. “A bad temper is a bad temper. You can’t really build your way around it.” – Bobbi, 31

9. “Passive aggression is one of the hardest things for a person to acknowledge in themselves, let alone work on.” – Carol, 26

10. “Friendship doesn’t always mean you’ll have benefits.” – Alan, 25

11. “What doesn’t kill you DOESN’T make you stronger, and whoever tells you that ate a load of crap. Essentially, every hurtful thing you’ll say to each other will only eat at the foundation of your relationship.” – Brian, 31

12. “You can love more than one person at a time, but none of those people will be okay with it once you confess.” – Gabrielle, 27

12. “Depression can’t be healed. There isn’t scientific evidence of an universal cure for it, just remedies that ease some of the symptoms here and there. It never truly goes away. The only thing you can do is not be a jerk to your spouse if they have it.” – Matt, 34

13. “Love is not enough. As we age, it is more and more conditioned by looks, social status, money, accessibility and religion. Things definitely don’t get easier with time, but they do get lonelier.” – Andrea, 32

14. “Manipulation is not a bad thing. It’s something you will need in order to achieve your goals, especially if you want to be happy with someone else.” – Bart, 35

15. “Abuse can come in the shape of silent treatment.” – Ernest, 28

16. “Display of emotions is not always pretty.” – Marcel, 23

17. “Monogamy doesn’t work when you have a lot of knowledge about the world.” – Laura, 30

18. “That young love is a beautiful, fleeting thing, unable to be replicated with age.” – Ellie, 21

19. “That marriage is not for me.” – Charlotte, 28

20. “Feminist doesn’t mean to be super strong and not going out with misogynists. It is in fact going out with a misogynist, loving one and still being able to point out his flaws.” – Samantha, 33