Goodbye to Old Friends

“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.”

–          Flavia Weedn

 

Goodbyes are never easy, in fact they are incredibly hard… They downright suck!

Recently I have been working on accepting that I am dealing with a shift in my life. This shift has changed a great deal, some by fault of my own choices and some because that is just how life happens. I am in the middle of a massive career change, we are discussing the possibility of a move across the province and now I am realizing that I am at a point where I need to say goodbye and walk away from people that I had assumed would be in my life for the long haul. It isn’t easy – but it’s necessary.

When people come into our lives, they may be here for a number of reasons. I know I have been told this a million times, but at times like right now I feel the need to remind myself…

People come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

The only time we find ourselves disappointed is when we try to force a relationship beyond it’s initial purpose.

Here is where I recently fell short… I was positive that these friendships were the ‘lifetime’ kind. Not because I had any solid proof, not because something was said to me, or something came up to show that they were different from other relationships I have had with friends. Solely because I allowed myself to drop my guard, allowing them into my life in ways I hadn’t previously and to me that meant they weren’t going anywhere.

The truth is that most people who will make an impact in your life are not going to be around from start to finish… They come into our lives to teach us a lesson, or guide us through something that we are facing. Maybe they were here to teach me how to open up and drop my guard. Maybe their purpose was in the fact that these friends were the ones who pushed me to walk away from my former career, instead pursuing something that I was truly passionate about. It could be that they were here to remind me of hobbies that I had let fall to the wayside that once brought me so much joy, bringing these activities back into my life again.

Regardless of the reason why they came into my life, I have now hit the point where I can feel that it is time to move on.

They have their lives, and I have mine. What as once a close-knit bond, where we would tell each other everything has now been severed by some not so positive choices, and we have made the move to distance ourselves for our own mental and emotional well being. If we are going to be honest about our priorities, we no longer make one another’s short list – I would even go as far as to say that we may be holding one another back from focusing on the priorities that we have deemed to be important in our lives.

Saying goodbye is never easy… But, sometimes it is necessary…

So, thank you for the good times, the great laughs and the never-ending support. Thank you for being a shoulder that I could cry on when times were difficult, and allowing me to vent when I felt like I was going to explode. Thank you for helping me to talk through life’s challenges without judging me or looking down on me for being confused by what you may have believed to be a black and white decision. Thank you for making me smile through the tears, but also reminding me that it is ok to cry. Thank you for cold drinks, late night bonfires, drunken text messages and spontaneous lunch dates.

Thank you for being an amazing friend, and I wish you all the best in the future!

Maybe life will bring us back together again some day, maybe not… There is no way to predict what this crazy rollercoaster called life has in store. Regardless, I hope that you achieve everything you have set out to do and more. Here’s to some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for, even if it was only for a season! But man was our season great…