Unless you are in your very first relationship with someone who's in their very first relationship, you're going to have to deal with your feelings and your partner's feelings about previous relationships. Most of us get to this stage before we're out of high school, but no one has bothered to tell us how to deal with the vast array of emotions that surface because of these previous relationships.

What happens when these feelings are negative and self destructive?

First serious relationship or tenth serious relationship, feelings of jealousy and insecurity can cause a lot of stress. These are feelings of wanting to control the other person. We all want to subtly, and some times directly, control other people - our friends, our parents, our boyfriends, our co-workers. We want to make them do, act, and say the things that we feel is best.

How to Deal With Jealousy and Insecurity

The easiest solution is to try to let go and understand that you simply can't control another person. You can love them, and they can love you, but you simply cannot ever control them and make them act the way you want them to. This is an illusion that has shattered countless relationships.

One of the biggest underlying problems troubling relationships today is that people feel like they "own" their partner. This is the real reason behind fear, anger, jealousy, insecurity, and similar types of feelings. The best thing to do is to just allow other people to be themselves and love them for who they are and not who you want them to be.

Jealousy and Insecurity About Past Relationships

It doesn't matter who he or she has been with before. It's those decisions and those relationships that have made your partner the person you're in love with today. In the same respect, it's your experiences, or lack of experiences that make you the person that your partner loves today.

Live your lives together, enjoy each other today, and be happy on your journey together.