How Demi Lovato’s Breakup Taught Us It’s Okay to Leave a Relationship

One of the reasons we love Demi Lovato is because she has always been an incredible role model.

She openly discusses the importance of mental health and has bravely talked about her struggles with addiction. She advocates for body positivity, and posts unedited pictures on Instagram, encouraging other women to love their natural bodies. Recently, she has taught us that it's okay to leave a relationship when it is no longer serving you and making you happy. Demi is known as the self-love queen, and she lived up to that title when she ended her engagement to Max Ehrich, on Sep. 24, 2020.

Demi started dating Max Ehrich, a singer, actor and dancer, in March of 2020. Many of her friends said that she was head-over-heels in love with him. They posted cute pictures on Instagram as they quarantined together.

They were only dating for four months when Max proposed to Demi in July 2020. Everything was going well until Sep. 12, 2020, when some of Max's old tweets resurfaced. These tweets showed that Max had been in love with Selena Gomez for many years of his life. Max even allegedly got a Selena-inspired tattoo and encouraged his followers to help him get Selena's attention. People began to speculate that Max was using Demi's fame to promote his music and acting career. While Demi denied these allegations at first on her Instagram story, she eventually ended her relationship with Max.

Unfortunately, Max didn't accept the breakup. He posted on his Instagram story, declaring his love for Demi and promoting her music. He publicly asked Demi to take him back, which put Demi in a very awkward situation. Amid all the media attention he created, Demi stuck to her decision and has not returned to Max

So how did Demi's breakup teach us that we can always leave bad relationships?

The first lesson we can take from this breakup is that even if the other person still loves you, you don't have to stay. You may have experienced a time where you wanted to leave a toxic relationship, but the other person tried to guilt you into staying. Breakups are painful, but it's always important to respect the other person when they decide to walk away.

Your ex-partner is hurting you and your healing process if they try to emotionally manipulate you into staying. Demi doesn't feel bad for leaving, and you shouldn't either. Demi unfollowed Max on Instagram and deleted all their pictures together. Follow her lead! This is a significant step in walking away from a relationship. It helps provide closure and signals to both people that the relationship is over. Everybody copes differently, but this is a great way to start the healing process.

The second lesson is that you can't listen to other people's opinions. If you feel unhappy in a relationship, you can always end it and you don't need to explain yourself to anyone. We may not have experienced a relationship problem as public and painful as Demi did, but many of us have been in a position when someone we loved hurt us. We may not have tabloids or thousands of fans on Twitter sharing opinions on our relationship, but we do receive conflicting advice from friends and family.

Demi's strength in this situation reminds us that we need to do what's best for ourselves. It doesn't matter how long you've been dating someone or how serious the relationship. Demi chose to walk away even though her heartbreak was on the cover of every social media gossip site and there were thousands of opinions from strangers on the internet.

Demi inspires us to believe in ourselves and our ability to move on. As she says in her latest song, "Still Have Me," "I still have me. And that's all I need. So take my faith but at least I still believe. I still believe in me." You don't have to stay trapped in a relationship. You can walk away, even if all your friends and family have different opinions. It's okay to leave a relationship even when the other person doesn't want to break-up. It's okay to leave a relationship even if you loved or still love the person. It's okay. Take a note from Demi choose yourself first, always.

If you need some inspirational music to help you get through a tough breakup, here's a definitive ranking of the most empowering breakup songs.