WAVE PATHWAY

Relationship Challenges

Relationships are where we feel the most connection and the most pain. When something breaks — trust, a partnership, a sense of security — it can shake everything. This pathway is for the hard middle: the not-knowing, the hurt, the decision-making, and the slow work of figuring out what comes next.

Honest support

No prescriptions for whether to stay or go. Tools that help you understand what you're feeling and make decisions that are actually yours.
Space to grieve

Relationship loss is real loss. This pathway makes room for the anger, the missing, and the identity questions that come with it.
A path forward

Whether that means repair, rebuilding trust, or starting over, there are concrete tools for each.

Relationship challenges rarely fit into clean categories. You might be deciding whether a relationship is worth saving. You might be trying to rebuild trust after something that broke it. You might be grieving a relationship that's already ended, or stuck somewhere in between. This pathway doesn't tell you what to do. It helps you get clear on what you're actually feeling, understand the patterns at play, and find a way forward that reflects what you genuinely want, not just what's easiest or most familiar.

What You’ll Work On

Understanding your own patterns in relationships, including why some feel impossible to leave
Processing betrayal without rushing toward forgiveness before you're ready
Rebuilding trust in ways that feel chosen rather than obligatory
Distinguishing between relationships worth repairing and ones that have run their course
Managing the emotional aftermath of separation, divorce, or breakup
Letting go of guilt and shame without bypassing accountability
Rebuilding your identity after a relationship ends
Finding steadiness in the uncertainty of not yet knowing what comes next

Topics in this Pathway

Not every relationship in crisis needs to end. But repair takes more than good intentions. It takes honesty about what happened, clarity about what change is actually possible, and a willingness to move slowly. This section covers forgiveness (what it actually means and what it doesn't), letting go of guilt, making amends in a way that's grounded rather than reactive, and knowing when repair is genuinely possible versus when hope is doing the work of evidence.
- Why forgive?
- Letting go of guilt
- Making amends in relationships
- When repair is possible vs when it's not
Trust doesn't come back all at once. It returns slowly, through consistent action and enough safety to start believing again. This section is for both people in that process: the one trying to rebuild and the one deciding whether to let them. Includes a look at how transparency can become surveillance, and how to avoid that trap.
- "I'm finding it hard to trust again"
- Rebuilding trust
- Transparency without surveillance
Infidelity is one of the most disorienting experiences a relationship can go through. It disrupts your sense of reality, your sense of self, and your ability to trust your own perceptions. This section holds space for both sides: the person who was betrayed and the person carrying the weight of having caused harm. There are no easy answers here, only honest tools for processing what happened and deciding, on your own terms, what comes next.
- "I feel shattered by betrayal"
- "I'm struggling to forgive after betrayal"
- "I can't forgive myself for cheating"
- Deciding whether to stay after infidelity
Endings are their own kind of grief. Whether the decision was yours, theirs, or mutual, the end of a significant relationship disrupts your routines, your identity, and your sense of the future. This section covers the full landscape of that experience: the emotional rawness, the practical chaos, the isolation, and the slow process of figuring out who you are now.
- Feeling stuck between staying and leaving
- Still feeling angry and hurt after a split
- "I feel like I lost part of myself with this divorce"
- The day-to-day
- Lean on your people
- Set boundaries with your ex online
- Facing the logistics
- Always growing
After a relationship ends, the work isn't just about moving on. It's about moving through. This section offers tools for the specific pain of missing someone even when the relationship needed to end, practicing self-compassion when your inner critic is loudest, and finding acceptance for the things that can't be undone.
- Missing someone
- Self-compassion
- Radical acceptance

See Other Pathways

The Research Behind this Pathway

The tools in this pathway draw on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), compassion-focused approaches, and DBT-informed skills for navigating the emotional intensity that relationship challenges bring. The focus throughout is on helping you process what happened, understand your own patterns, and make decisions from a grounded place rather than from fear, guilt, or habit.

Common Questions

No. While many of the Bytes speak most directly to romantic partnerships, the tools here apply to any significant relationship: friendships, family, co-parenting, and professional relationships where trust or conflict is a real issue.
That uncertainty is exactly what this pathway is designed for. Several Bytes sit directly in that ambivalence without pushing you toward either answer. Your Wave coach can also help you think through what you actually want, separate from the pressure of what feels easiest or most expected.
No. Some people come to this pathway in the acute aftermath of something painful. Others use it while working through patterns they've noticed over time. Both are valid entry points.
Wave coaching is individual. Your coach works with you and your experience. If both partners are Wave members, each would work with their own coach. This can actually be a useful setup, since both people get dedicated support without one person's needs dominating the conversation.