Which type of person in your life has had the biggest influence on how you love?

Whether they modelled a loving partnership or a complicated one, parents often set the template for what we expect from relationships. For better or worse, their influence tends to run deep.

A truly honest friend — the kind who sat with you through heartbreak and called you out on your patterns — can reshape how you see yourself in relationships entirely. Many people credit a best mate more than any therapist.

Not every significant relationship works out, but some leave you fundamentally different — more self-aware, more cautious, or more open than you were before. That ex you never quite forget probably taught you something essential.

Grandparents who stayed together through decades of real life — rationing, redundancy, loss — often model a kind of quiet, committed love that feels increasingly rare. Their example can set a surprisingly high bar.

With NHS waiting lists and a growing openness around mental health in the UK, more people than ever have sat across from a counsellor and finally understood why they love the way they do. Sometimes it takes a stranger to show you yourself.