The idea that your partner might not be over their ex isn't exactly one that most people would want to think much about.
Though you might not want to admit that you see potential signs that your partner isn't over their ex, many of them aren't exactly subtle, Mark Stevens, author of "Evidence of Love," told INSIDER. And once you see them clearly, it might be difficult for you to continue to move forward pretending that you don't.
We rounded up some big signs that the one you love may still be hung up on their ex.
1. You can tell that their mind is somewhere else.
If your partner doesn't seem to be fully present with you when the two of you are spending time together, that's one potential sign that they might be thinking about someone else.
Though being preoccupied doesn't necessarily mean that they're not over their ex, it could. Stevens said that you can feel the distance between the two of you, even though you're physically together. He added that it's because they're "always with that ex" mentally, even though they're likely no longer always with their ex physically.
2. They're always ready to defend their partner when they come up in conversation.
"If someone constantly feels the need to defend their ex, specifically at times when their ex isn't the center of conversation it could mean that they aren't quite over them,"Weena Cullins, LCMFT, a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist and relationship expert, told INSIDER.
They might not go out of their way to defend the ex, particularly when there's no reason to do so.
3. They try to bring them up in conversation.
Not only does your partner want to defend their ex, but they also look for reasons to talk about them. "It's like he wants to talk about her, but he can't talk about her to you without a non-threatening reason," Stevens said. "So he tells anecdotes. And the anecdotes look like they're designed to tell you things about great restaurants or great vacations or whatever, but they're really just so he can talk about her because he wants to talk about her because we all want to talk about people that we love."
It might not always be obviously about that person — their ex — but that person is always a part of the story.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider