Clint Smith @thecrint: what can be done to restore the consideration needed to keep a relationship healthy, once it has been lost?
Answer:
You’re going to have lots of relationships in life. Spouses, girlfriends, bosses, friends, family, children. Sometimes you’re going to be angry. Sometimes you’re going to feel regret. Sometimes you’ll miss someone, or hate them, or love them, or all of the above.
Relationships are complicated.
But they are always many. Don’t ever be afraid to leave a relationship. It doesn’t mean you didn’t work hard enough. It doesn’t mean you are a bad person. It doesn’t mean the other person is bad. It just means two people spent some time together and now it’s time for those two people to change the nature of their relationship into one form or other. Change is as much a part of relationships as stability is. There is nothing wrong with change.
Even if you really, really want the relationship to work, no matter what happened, no matter what trust has been lost in the past, it still might not work out the way you want. You have to be willing to change the nature of the relationship. You can’t ever force someone to love you. No matter what you do, things often change. Love changes. Life changes.
Listen to what is really happening. Pay attention to how YOU really feel deep down. Do you feel bad? Do you feel wanting? Do you feel lonely? Then chances are this is a relationship that, one way or the other, needs to change. And then you’ll move on and find another slice of the myriad of colors that make up the relationship spectrum. You will explore that entire rainbow before you die. And before you find the pot of gold at the end.