New terms are becoming popular for many of the bad, destructive, and even toxic relationship behaviors that help people label what they are experiencing. Over the last few years, people have become familiar with gaslighting and ghosting. To add to that, the term breadcrumbing has become mainstream, adding to the ability to easily describe the difficulties you are experiencing in your dating relationships.
What is Breadcrumbing?
Breadcrumbing is the act of dropping little bits of attention through social media platforms or technology to keep the other person interested in the potential of the relationship. Accepting breadcrumbs means that you are settling for these small and virtual signals of the potential for the relationship.
Most people that engage in breadcrumbing are those who have a significant fear of being on their own or alone. To hedge their bets of not having someone to be in a relationship with, they focus on keeping multiple potential partners available. In some ways, they are also testing the waters with numbers of potential dates or relationships without committing to any one person. It is highly manipulative, even if the person doing it may not think they are doing anything harmful.
Signs of Breadcrumbing
People meet online on a daily basis. Online meetings have increased dramatically with the COVID-19 restrictions on in-person social gatherings. So how do you know if you are being breadcrumbed or if you are just in the emerging stages of a potential dating relationship?
To help understand these dynamics, here are some signs you are getting only the breadcrumbs in the relationship:
Ending the Pattern
It is important to end the pattern of breadcrumbing for your emotional health. These types of relationships are wasting your time and your mental and emotional energy on someone who is only interested in ensuring their needs are met.
If you suspect you are being breadcrumbed, there are few simple steps you can take to identify if this is the case:
Talk to a therapist or counselor or check out my program Wake up Recovery for Love Addiction, Codependency, and Toxic Relationships if you see patterns of bread crumbing in your relationships. I am offering a special $1 trial to join. Learning to set boundaries and to value yourself and your needs can help to be comfortable in letting these types of negative relationships go.
Join Panache Desai each weekday morning for support in reconnecting to the wellspring of calm and peace that lives within you and that has the power to counterbalance all of the fear, panic, and uncertainty that currently engulfs the world.
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