It is a natural part of life to bend. We are constantly being bombarded with new experiences, different environments, work, school, relationships, illnesses, birthday parties, deadlines and things to remember, and it can be overwhelming, to put it lightly. When we over-work ourselves, our body responds. Our immune system may get run down, and we don't feel so hot for a while. Our body bends. We get sore after a long day of walking somewhere. Our body bends. We crash after staying up until 3 a.m. studying for that last final. Our body bends. This is our body's way of helping to warn us, "Don't work too hard. Be careful."

What I'm beginning to realize is you can only bend so much before you break. Your mind, body, heart or whichever is receiving the most stress can only take it for so long before, well, it simply can't anymore. And that's a lesson most people come to learn the hard way.

Sometimes, you aren't even aware that a specific task or person in your life is causing you such stress. It's just always something that's been there, on and off, seemingly as natural as air. But anything or anyone who's causing you more discomfort or sadness or unhappiness in your life than good feelings is slowing making you bend. Each time something else happens, you bend a bit more. You tell yourself this is fine. You can handle this. You're used to this after all, right? It's just as natural as breathing.

Without thinking about it, this bending becomes a routine. Just a little more each time. And then, one day, you realize you're about to break. This is the point where you must breathe and let go. If you're going to break anything, don't let it be you, your dignity, your ego or your happiness. Let it be the ties with the thing that brought you down and made you unhappy.

Bending over backwards for others who wouldn't do the same for you can easily become an unhealthy routine. Don't let the actions, or lack thereof, of others shape you into something you are not. Don't let your body bend to a point beyond recognition. If you're going to bend, bend for yourself and those around you who are worth bending for. But remember, no one worth bending for would cause you to ever break.