On trauma, impermanence, and the hard truth that some relationships were never meant to last.
Trigger Warning: The following content includes experiences and discussions around difficult topics such as trauma, childhood maltreatment, or abusive relationships. While my intent is to educate and share insights, some readers may find certain content emotionally distressing. This article is for informational purposes only.
Most of us aren’t meeting a new friend or getting to know someone we’re romantically interested in with the intention that there will be an expiration date on the relationship. We imagine growth, connection, and permanence. Sure, people change. Who they are today (and who we are) will probably not be the same two people a year from now. Yet, most of us aren’t going into any relationship with the assumption of it being a temporary placeholder, either. Ideally, we want the people in our lives to grow both for themselves and with us. Yet, it doesn’t always work out this way.
Most of us have heard the old cliché, that some people enter our lives for, “…a reason, a season, or a lifetime”, but I have not met many people in my life who can honestly say they’ve had a “forever friend” or a “lifetime partner”. These stories tend to be the…