The Etch a Sketch Effect Will Explain Every Break-Up You've Ever Had

It's not you, it's him

- Kayla Kibbe

Stop me if this sounds familiar. Your relationship is going great (no, like, for real though), when your boyfriend gets some bad news. Maybe he got passed up for a promotion; maybe his childhood dog died. Whatever it is, it has nothing to do with you or the state of your union. And yet, faster than you can say, ‘Hey, man, you are being weird—what is happening?’ you are, wait for it...single.

You, my friend, may be a victim of a little thing I like to call the Etch a Sketch Effect. Reminder if it’s been a while: an Etch a Sketch toy has no ‘backspace’ button—if one little aspect of your design doesn’t go according to plan, you have to shake the entire thing and start from scratch.

Still with me? Okay. From what I have gathered—and I have gathered a lot in five years as a sex and relationships writer and twice as long as a sex and relationships haver—this is what many cis-het men seem to do in the face of a particular challenge. They shake up their whole lives, including your relationship, in an effort to correct one small thing.

WHY THOUGH?