{"id":1184295,"date":"2026-01-16T18:07:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T23:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/?p=1184295"},"modified":"2026-01-12T12:09:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T17:09:04","slug":"6-signs-the-one-who-got-away-wasnt-your-soulmate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/holly-riordan\/2026\/01\/6-signs-the-one-who-got-away-wasnt-your-soulmate\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Signs \u201cThe One Who Got Away\u201d Wasn\u2019t Your Soulmate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maybe you can\u2019t stop thinking about the one who got away<\/a> \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean you were supposed to be together. It doesn\u2019t mean your relationship could have worked out any differently if you tried harder or made a change. Here are a few concrete signs the person you always considered \u2018the one who got away\u2019 wasn\u2019t actually your soulmate:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They left you excited half the time \u2013 and disappointed the other half. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You deserve a partner who is consistent<\/a>. They shouldn\u2019t pick and choose when to treat you right. They shouldn\u2019t bring you immense joy one day, and immense disappointment the next. If the one who got away <\/em>only felt like the one <\/em>half the time, then they weren\u2019t enough for you. You need someone who shows up every single day, no excuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You weren\u2019t the best version of yourself around them. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your partner should bring out your best qualities, not your worst. You should like who you are when they\u2019re standing in a room with you. If this person mostly brought out your jealous side or your mopey side, then they aren\u2019t actually your soulmate. You deserve someone who makes you want to be the best partner possible. Someone who inspires you to reach your full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You put in noticeably more effort than they did. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You might feel like they were the one who got away because your feelings for them were so strong \u2013 but you need to ask yourself whether they<\/em> actually put any effort into being with you<\/em>. Remember, you can\u2019t sustain a relationship with someone who is uninterested in putting in the work. You need a partner who is going to make you feel loved and supported. A partner who is going to do their fair share of the work, even when it\u2019s inconvenient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You had conflicting feelings about how to spend the rest of your lives. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You need to have aligning views for the future in order to make a relationship last. If you felt differently about how many children you wanted to have (and if you wanted to have any at all), whether you wanted to get married, and the location you wanted to live, then you\u2019re better off apart. Neither of you should have to sacrifice what you really want to be together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You shared different values. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Having chemistry<\/a> is one thing. But having shared values is another thing entirely. You can\u2019t make a relationship last based on passion alone. You need so much more than that in order to spend the rest of your lives together, so if the one who got away <\/em>was on a completely different page than you, it was never meant to last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They failed to prioritize you. <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can\u2019t expect to be your partner\u2019s whole world \u2013 but you should be a huge part of it. If the one who got away <\/em>never treated you like a priority, then a relationship never would have worked, despite how much they cared for you. You deserve a relationship where your partner treats you like a priority, not a bonus or a backup plan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are a few concrete signs the person you always considered \u2018the one who got away\u2019 wasn\u2019t actually your soulmate:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105961862,"featured_media":1184296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"thoughtcatalog_call_to_action":"","tc_post_redirect":"","thoughtcatalog_is_sponsored_content":"0","footnotes":""},"categories":[603229912],"tags":[],"anchortext":[],"posttemplate":[],"adcampaign":[],"coauthors":[432023958],"class_list":["post-1184295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/alireza-helmi-H51RTgWzYAs-unsplash.jpg","author_meta":null,"photo_credit":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105961862"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184295"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1184297,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184295\/revisions\/1184297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184295"},{"taxonomy":"anchortext","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/anchortext?post=1184295"},{"taxonomy":"posttemplate","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posttemplate?post=1184295"},{"taxonomy":"adcampaign","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/adcampaign?post=1184295"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thoughtcatalog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=1184295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}