Saturday, July 27, 2024

Wisdom on Relationships: Ending one with Grace and Strength

 


 

Breakups are inevitable:

In fact, everyone will experience a breakup or two at some point in life—it's just part of the human experience. Breakups aren't always a bad thing; they can be pivotal moments for learning and self-reflection, helping us grow and better understand ourselves.

Emotional Mastery and Strength:

Breakups can carry the same grief one would experience during the death of a close relative or friend. Healing after breakup is a process, yet it is necessary to avoid carrying baggage into the next relationship. Many people rush the healing process by jumping right away into a new relationship. In doing so they never do the hard work needed to bring them to a place of being fully healed. What they do not realize without healing even if they were to find someone who holds similar values as they do, it will be impossible for them to establish a healthy relationship with that new person.

You know you’re healed when you can go into a relationship with a new person, with the eyes of someone who’s dating for the first time. What I mean by this is that you're not seeing that new person through the eyes of someone who has been hurt from previous relationships. You're seeing that new person with pure eyes not holding them captive to the pain you’ve experienced in the past. The opinion you have of them is based solely on your experience with them.

Self-Reflection and Growth:

Identifying patterns

Self-reflection is crucial after a breakup, as it allows you to fully process how you truly felt throughout the relationship. Often, while in a relationship, people tend to overlook unhealthy patterns because they are caught up in superficial aspects, like physical attraction or the excitement of the moment. While physical attraction is important, character and shared values are far more essential to sustaining a healthy, meaningful connection.


As you reflect, one of the most important questions to ask is: Were there any red flags? Recognizing red flags—whether they involve lack of respect, poor communication, or emotional manipulation—can help you understand what boundaries may not have been set or enforced. Without clear boundaries, it’s easy to fall into unhealthy dynamics where your needs and values aren’t respected.


Establishing and maintaining healthy boundaries is a critical foundation for any relationship. Boundaries protect your emotional well-being, foster mutual respect, and ensure both partners feel valued and secure. By reflecting on the red flags and boundary issues, you gain wisdom that will guide you in future relationships, helping you to avoid repeating the same mistakes and to build stronger, more fulfilling connections. 

Look Beyond Potential: Embrace Reality in Relationships

Many people go into relationships thinking they can change their partner for the better. The hard truth is, people rarely change just because someone else wants them to. They might make small adjustments over time, but who they are at the core stays the same. When someone shows you their true colors the first time, believe them. Building a relationship on someone's potential, hoping they’ll 'grow,' is a losing strategy.

You wouldn't buy a car with half the tires flat and expect it to drive smoothly, so why enter a relationship where you're pulling all the weight? Like a car with only two good tires, an unbalanced relationship is destined to veer off course. You might make it a little way down the road, but the strain of carrying more than your share will eventually wear you out. And when that happens, you’ll be stuck with a broken-down situation, asking yourself why you kept driving.

Relationships built on unbalanced effort lead to frustration, resentment, and eventual breakdown. Just like a car engine overloaded by stress, a relationship without equal contribution from both sides will run itself into the ground. The cost? Your peace of mind, your time, and your energy. In the end, the vehicle might reach its destination, but it’ll be limping across the finish line at a heavy price.

The key is to start off on solid ground. Balance the load from day one. Both partners need to carry their weight, bring the same level of commitment, and have a clear understanding of each other's values. It’s not about dragging someone along hoping they’ll catch up—it's about moving forward together. Before you dive in, take the time to size up the situation. Get to know who you're dealing with beyond surface-level attraction. Are they really on the same page as you in terms of character, ambition, and values? Weigh your options wisely so you don’t end up in the same dead-end situation with a different person, repeating the same mistakes.

Evaluating Personal Goals, Values, and Future Relationship Desires

As you're going through a breakup use this time to revisit your personal goals and values – thus setting a precedence for future relationships.

Personal goals are important especially as they relate to your destiny. If you’re serious about your destiny you will be cautious of who you let close to you. You attract what you are and where you are. When you’re heading in the direction of your destiny you will attract destiny helpers. Be a person of purpose motivated by personal goals. Neglecting your personal goals will only attract those eager to destroy your destiny.

If your goal is to build a solid family, establish generational wealth, and positively impact the community around you, actively work to build wisdom around these things. As you work towards these things you will find yourself surrounded by people who share the like values. 

Someone seeking wisdom on how to best build a solid family foundation will likely value qualities such as loyalty, commitment, putting the needs of their family ahead of their own personal happiness, and establishing a household with unconditional love. They’ll lead with understanding, knowing that love is established through understanding.

A person seeking to establish generational wealth will work towards understanding the concepts of money, time, investing, seizing the day, taking risks, and wisely managing money. They will take accountability for their condition and lead in driving solutions to establish financial stability for their family. Lack will never be in their household, for when perceived shortage comes, they’ll always strive to make a way.

A person seeking to positively impact the community will likely value embodying a sense of morals, shared sense of community, and understanding that strong families lead to strong communities. Such a person will be generous, charitable, humble, and less likely to be pretentious, meaning they won’t take themselves too seriously.

When you set personal goals that align with your destiny you will know what to look for. And when you know what to look for you won’t settle for anything less. A scarcity mentality is what makes people desperate. They’re too busy trying to find people from the environment they came from, to lift up, rather than finding people at their destination who won’t bring them down. A person who shares the same values as you will likely be in the sphere of where you’re headed, your destination. 

Always remember, attraction may bring two people together but aligned values are what keeps them together.

Use a breakup as an opportunity for personal development and self-improvement. Instead of dwelling on the disappointment, see it as a chance to grow into a stronger, more self-aware version of yourself. Breakups can highlight areas where boundaries need to be set, communication can be improved, or personal goals deserve more attention. By focusing on your own growth, you’ll not only heal but also gain a clearer understanding of what you truly want in a relationship.

As you work on yourself, you’ll start attracting people who align with your values and goals. The connections that once seemed appealing may no longer hold the same importance. Instead, you’ll find yourself drawn to people who share your values, respect your journey, and are ready to build a meaningful partnership.

Personal development also helps you raise your standards, making you more intentional about the relationships you pursue. Over time, this leads to healthier relationships based on mutual respect and shared values, rather than fleeting or superficial connections. Ultimately, focusing on self-improvement after a breakup helps you break old patterns and create space for a relationship that truly complements your personal growth.

Healthy Communication and Closure:

In as much as you can try to maintain healthy communication during a breakup. It's not always possible to end a relationship on positive terms. You are only responsible for how you respond. Maintain peace and always have pure intentions, despite how the other person may proceed.

During a breakup, the other person may become vindictive, bitter, or resentful, sometimes resorting to smear campaigns and false claims - all in the effort to further cause harm.  However, do not engage in negativity, spread rumors, or harbor bitterness. While you might feel the need to defend yourself against such attacks, it's often not worth the effort, nor is it constructive. When you understand that it's human nature for some people to seek the worst in others, you’ll be less inclined to waste energy trying to convince them otherwise.

Be wise in your response, knowing that rumors may run sprints, but character finishes the marathon. When you focus on the bigger picture, you'll realize that this too shall pass. You will be rewarded in the end for how much peace you maintained and for your efforts to end things on a positive note.

Remember, the goal is to maintain peace and healthy communication. Sometimes, healthy communication involves silence. Silence doesn't imply wrongdoing—it often reflects a commitment to peace and avoiding unnecessary conflict, even in the face of false statements or allegations. It emphasizes the importance of patience, understanding, and respect in fostering meaningful, constructive interactions. Silence can also be a powerful tool for preserving the dignity of both parties, allowing you to rise above attempts to drag you into toxicity. It can lead to closure, as some things are better left unsaid, especially when truth speaks for itself over time.

Rebuilding Self-Esteem and Confidence:

Regardless of what led to a breakdown in the relationship it's important for one to focus on rebuilding their self-esteem and confidence. This may look like learning new skills, taking on more responsibility, getting more involved in your community, spending more time with family and friends, and most importantly focusing on your relationship with God.

Learning new skills, especially highly desired skills will lead to new network connections, new opportunities, new environments. It's a chance to rediscover your worth and the ability to make an impact. Naturally this will lead to more responsibility and more community involvement. From this, new friendships will develop, and your understanding will deepen. You’ll learn new perspectives that will improve your ability to discern if someone embodies the same set of core values you hold dear.

The time you spend with family and friends will help you to refocus on the people who love you. Their advice can be a valuable tool for personal development providing clarity and insight. Focusing on your relationship with God, will help you rediscover your destiny. Your destiny is where your peace is. That's why the enemy comes to kill still and destroy - he's not after your money he's after your destiny. Your destiny is where the Good Life is found. On the journey of your destiny, you will go through trials and temptations, you will experience heartbreak, but you will reach the Promised Land. It’s on the other side.

Reconnect with God so you don’t loose your way. Reconnect with God so you find out His opinion of you. It is when you reconnect with God you gain a stronger confidence.

Allow God to heal you and re-align you to your destiny so that He can send you your destiny helper -your helpmate. You'll find when you allow God to align you with those who share your same values, you will be a blessing to them in as much they’ll be a blessing to you.

Preparing for Future Relationships:

You can’t build something new if you don’t first understand what caused the old to fall apart. Recognizing what worked and what didn’t in past relationships is crucial. It’s like building a house—you wouldn’t use the same materials that failed the first time. True growth comes from learning those lessons and choosing a stronger foundation for the future.

In other words, don’t enter a new relationship relying solely on the knowledge gained from past relationships. Every relationship involves two unique individuals, and no two people are the same. Focus on understanding the new person and, from that understanding, determine if you can build a solid foundation together. This doesn’t mean disregarding the lessons you’ve learned—it means approaching the new relationship without biases. See the person for who they are and how they align with your values.

If there’s compatibility and shared values, create a foundation based on how both of you intend to express those values. Establish clear expectations and standards that reflect this alignment, and foster open, positive communication. Building on these shared principles will create healthy relationship patterns, helping you avoid the same mistakes that may have occurred in past relationships. 

 

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