The Daily Love’s Mastin Kipp explains how to avoid toxic relationships

The author and entrepreneur is currently promoting a new book.
Credit: Provided

It was a tweet from Kim Kardashian that helped change the course of Mastin Kipp’s career.

Kipp had been tweeting advice and observations about relationships to the approximately 1,000 followers of his account when the reality star discovered it in 2009. “I feel so inspired when I read tweets from @TheDailyLove,” she wrote. “They make me feel lovey and positive!”

That night, the popularity of The Daily Love Twitter account skyrocketed to 10,000 fans, and a new chapter in Kipp’s career was born. In his new book “Daily Love: Growing into Grace,” Kipp traces his somewhat unlikely journey from being a young executive at a record company who nearly loses it all to addiction to becoming what Oprah Winfrey once called a “thought leader of the next generation of spiritual thinkers.”’

“It was actually very difficult to revisit that time,” says Kipp of his struggles in the past. “But it was worthwhile. When you write, it not only shows you where you’ve been, it also shows you how far you’ve come.”

We asked Kipp for some advice on how to find and nourish a healthy relationship.

Learn the definition of a healthy relationship

“A toxic relationship is when you think, ‘What can I take from this person?’ versus a healthy relationship, which is, ‘What can I give?’ ‘How can I support this person?’” notes Kipp.

Break the cycle

Do you find that you run into the same problems and have the same frustrations in every romantic relationship? Some self-reflection is probably in order. “I call it the ‘same person in different shoes’ rule,” says Kipp. “You are basically saying, to live like this is what I’m worth.”

Question your motivations

Kipp also advises people who are unhappy in their love lives to figure out why they want to be in a relationship in the first place. “Ask yourself, ‘Am I dating someone to date someone? Am I afraid of being alone?’” he says.