The best gift some people have ever given me is when they
made the choice to end our relationship at the right time – a choice that
either I didn’t have the strength to make or I didn’t have the vision at the
moment to see the long-term damage that continuing the relationship was about
to cause both of us. In reflection, some
of the best memories in my life were created by relationships that, even though
may have ended, ended at the right time - associations that didn’t go too long so
as to hold one another back or create long-term resentment, blame, or anger.
You know, when it comes to relationships, the
fork in the road can be a scary place for all of us. And I’ve observed that when most of us arrive
at a folk in the road regarding a relationship, we become like children once
again who are afraid to walk an unfamiliar path, not knowing what’s around the
next bend. But I usually notice people
make one of three choices. They take the
relationship down a path it wasn’t designed to go, risking long-term resentment,
unhappiness and damage to what was at one time considered a blessing. They end the relationship but spend the next
few months or years standing at the fork in the road, afraid to move on
alone. Or they allow the relationship to
end and have the courage to say, “Because this relationship ended, I realize I can’t
see happiness or feel it or hear it right now. But that doesn’t mean happiness no longer
exist. It just doesn’t exist where I’m
standing. And that gives me the strength
and faith needed to take a new path and find it again.”
Sometimes, the
greatest blessings in life are relationships that end at the right time. And while the forks in the road regarding
relationships can’t always be avoided, allowing this “part of life” experience
to create long-term resentment, fear, and anger doesn’t have to become a part
of your future.
As Dr. Seuss said, “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile
because it happened...”
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