11 Signs Your Partner Is Too Clingy & What to Do About It

You see, chances are you don’t have much of interest in being the clingy one in a relationship. It comes with a whole slew of negative connotations, worst of all being jealousy.

You might not want to be dating someone who’s clingy either. Signs your partner is clingy to a point where it’s unhealthy could be staring right at you at this very moment, so let’s stare right back at them and see what you can do to help the situation.

Why are people sometimes overly clingy in relationships?
You see, a lot of it has to do with how the person feels about themselves. Generally, being clingy and being insecure go hand in hand.

That partner who won’t stop calling and texting you when you’re away from each other is likely seeking reassurance that you’re not out having a blast without them, or even worse, cheating.

Their rationale for checking in so much when you’re not around might be to allow themselves feel more secure. While, certainly is of sound reasoning, it doesn’t make it any easier for us to deal with it when our partners start acting this way.

In fact, many who’ve dealt with clingy significant others may find ourselves using the words “annoying” and “irritating” when talking about them.

If this seems familiar to you, let’s evaluate some of the signs your partner is clingy, and talk about some pointers on ways to best deal with it so that you can get your relationship into a healthy place.

Here are 11 signs your partner is too clingy, and what to do about it.

1. Your Phone Is Always Blowing Up – Like I mean, Always.

Let’s begin with the most obvious signs of all: Your partner doesn’t seem to want to leave you alone for a second. If you’re not physically together, they’ll immediately turn to using their phone to get hold of you.
Is this unnecessary jealously rearing its ugly head?
Jealousy and clinginess go hand-in-hand. People who are jealous and insecure will tend to cling to their partner as a means of keeping a closer eye on them.
Part of that, is wanting to feel like they know what their partner is doing at all times. If it feels like your partner is constantly keeping tabs on you in this way, take it as a red flag, my dear.

2. They Get Really Nervous When You Don’t Respond

You were in an important meeting at the end of the day, and when you get back to your desk you have endless calls and texts from your partner.
When you talked to them, you find out nothing was wrong, they were just nervous that you weren’t responding. Then, this happens again the next day. This behaviour is not normal.
If a partner admits to getting all sweaty and nervous if they’re not getting a response from their significant Oother, it shows they might be far too attached to this person.

3. Your Partner Dislikes Your Attractive Co-worker

Remember that jealously we mentioned? Here we go again. Is your partner unable to stand the idea of you being around someone else who is especially attractive, like an easy-on-the-eyes co-worker?
It could all come back to that jealously and clinginess going hand-in-hand notion. If you find your partner is checking in on you more than ever when you’re with a platonic hottie, this is yet another sign.
A clingy partner can be keeping a close eye on you in their jealous state as to be certain you’re not doing anything to break their trust, like cheating.

4. They Ask You Odd Questions About Your Social Media

We’re not talking about current and simple questions like, “Honey, did you and my mom just become Facebook friends? “We’re talking about really random questions that took some digging to even come up with
Has your significant other been grilling you about a person standing in the background of a picture you posted four years ago? Is he/she asking about flirty comments you made on a picture in 2008, long before the two of your even knew each other?
Let me advise you, overdoing it on social media can scream, “clingy!”.
This is also true when considering the number of things, they post of you (like 100+ similar looking pictures of you two from a weekend trip) or if they’re posting on your Facebook wall all the time to stake their claim.

5. He or She Hates It When You Go Out Without Them

A night out with your friends without your partner? You’re laughing out loud at the idea of this alone, as it would never happen. Every time you bring up even the mere thought of doing something without them, they freak.
A clingy partner will often spend much of the time spent away from their significant other worrying about what there are doing. For you, a night out might seem just mere fun, for them it could translate to a night home worrying on the couch.
It could go the opposite way as well. If they have plans without you, they might feel unable to enjoy that time away from you, and might spend most of it thinking about you, what you’re doing, and when you’ll be together again.
For people that value alone time (something that is very important for anyone in a relationship), this is difficult.

6. They’ll Tag Along Everywhere, Even Without an Invite

Those plans you had without your significant other, consider them now to be plans you have with your significant other, because it’s very unlikely that they won’t be tagging along. A clingy partner will come along to whatever outing it is, whether they were invited or not.

7. He or She Has Gradually Ditched All of Their Friends

I’ve known many people who have been on the “clingy” side of this, and let me tell you, it hasn’t worked out very well for them. In fact, it almost always ends with them having a broken heart, and having to come back around to their friends begging for forgiveness for going their own way for ages.
Those who are needy in relationships tend to not spend time with their friends, and rather only wish to spend time with their significant other. Look, downsizing your life so that it only includes your partner is a common mistake.
While we all should strive to spend quality time with our significant other, it’s also important to have time apart now and then.

8. They Don’t Seem to Have Their Own Interests Anymore

In addition to leaving behind their friends, your partner seems to have parted way with their unique hobbies and interests, too, and rather now completely align with yours. On the point of dropping interests and friends to align with their SO,
“Clingy partners tend to make their partner their whole world. This means they won’t feel secure enough to have interests of their own, especially ones that don’t include the other person.

9. You Can Tell They Now Hold Back Their Real Opinions

When you first started dating, he or she was a die-hard conservative or liberal. The more you’ve expressed opinions on the other end of the spectrum, though, the more they’ve started to jump ship to your side.
Now, only a few months later, and they’re suddenly completely aligned to your views on politics. What happened?
Those who are clingy are likely to hold back their true thoughts and feelings on things in a relationship for fear of doing anything at all that could turn their partner away.
This type of clinginess comes from a strong desire to be loved and accepted by their SO.

10. You Need to Constantly Reassure Your Love for Them

I mean, constantly. No matter how many times you say it, they want you to say it once more. In any relationship, all of us expect a certain amount of reassurance that our partner loves us, but clingy partners take this to the extreme.
This might be due to their constant need to be reassured of the soundness of the relationship and to overcome that relationship insecurity.
The sad thing is that often, no matter how much the partner gives, or allows, it will never be enough to make the [other] partner feel trusting and secure in the relationship.

11. Your Partner Is More Interested in You Than You Are in Them

I remember, Tracey Steinberg, New York City-based dating expert once staid, if you’re thinking of your partner as “clingy” or “needy,” it could be a sign that they are more interested in you than the other way around. Steinberg made this point super clear by noting. He said, “Let’s face it:
If your crash favourite celebrity (Male or female) texted you ten times, you’d be blasting it to every person you know. The point is that this same action could seem really, really annoying, though, if it’s coming from someone you have less interest in.

If these points are resonating with you all too clearly but you still want to continue the relationship, there are things you can do to better the situation. Because most often, this is a red-stop light for any relationship. You see, you first need to make it a point to set healthy boundaries with your significant other as soon as possible.

This means explaining to your partner the importance of spending an equal amount of time together and time apart. If you work to make this balance the ‘norm,’ you’re helping to set a good pattern for the relationship.
If your partner continues to struggle with these issues, and you still care about them, then you may want to suggest individual therapy as a means of working on where these issues and needs are coming from.

Another option is a few couples therapy sessions where you both are able to set ‘ground rules’ and talk about where each of your needs come from.