You are cheating on your person every time you answer a text message late at night from someone else you are attracted to, someone you wish was in bed beside you, someone you don’t want your girlfriend to realize you have been talking to.
You are cheating on your person every time you eyefuck someone else from across the room. Every time you make it clear that — if you were single — then you would definitely be interested.
You are cheating on your person every time you purposely leave out the name of your new female coworker or the waitress you had a ten minute conversation with during lunch. You are cheating every time you lie about a certain person in your life to stop your girlfriend from getting jealous, when really, you aren’t telling her because you feel guilty about how you flirted with them.
You are cheating on your person every time you fail to mention you are in a relationship. Every time you hide your ring or that necklace they gave you to look like you’re still single.
You are cheating on your person every time you wear cologne and dress nicer to impress someone else. Every time your thoughts center around someone other than the person you committed yourself to.
You are cheating on your person every time you hang out with someone behind their back or text someone behind their back. Every time you purposely hide something from them because you know that you are doing something wrong, something they would be pissed about.
You are cheating on your person every time you complain about what a bitch she is to someone who has a crush on you, someone who is going to get their hopes up and expect your relationship to end. You are cheating every time you lead someone else on, whether or not you actually plan on taking things a step further and getting physical.
You are cheating on your person every time you follow a girl you know in real life on Instagram, only because she posts half-naked pictures that you think are sexy.
You are cheating on your person every time you send a provocative picture to another girl, the kind of picture that you should only be sending to your girlfriend.
You are cheating on your person every time you contact an ex and lie about it. Every time you run into an old flame and lie about it. Every time you get a text from another girl and lie about it.
You might not consider any of these things cheating because they are too small. You might think that cheating means holding hands and kissing and sleeping together. But either way, you’re betraying your person. You’re doing something they would be uncomfortable with, something that would hurt them to know.
So you can call it cheating or you can call it nothing at all — but either way, you’re doing the wrong thing. Either way, you’re not giving your person the treatment they deserve.
By Holly Riordan for ThoughtCatalog