You know that saying, "May the bridges I burn light the way."? Well, I want to talk about that, but first, you should all know that it originally comes from the original 90210, and I only know that because I just Googled it. I also am aware that the person using the quote only leads off with it and is using a little bit of a different context. I'm more so refereing to the countless people who will tweet, facebook, and whatever else that eight letter quote as a pillar of their lifestyle. Right, my personal take on that quote, I think it's garbage. I do not see it as a positive, "I'm going to do this thing and if someone doesn't like it, I don't care who it is, I'm going to do it at the expense of a friendship!" I'm sorry, but that's just incredibly stupid of a person. Why push everyone you know and care about out of your life for some small mundane task or idea? What happens when you push everyone away and you achieve the goal and when you go to celebrate with a friend...oh, that's right, you burnt every bridge to light the way and now you can't get back.
"That's really dark Lib, lighten up a little and relax, huh?"
Listen, I personally know the above quote is possibly one of the most incredulous mindset's out there, maybe save for a few that the president-elect may have. Just from my personal experience alone, I can tell you that this is the wrong mentality to hold.
"You are a sellout/ but you couldn't even do that right." These song lyrics by Cute Is What We Aim For honestly ring true with my story. I was a few years younger, and I was going through some darker time in my life, I was struggling, even with the family and friends around me, I was barely keeping my head above water, figuratively speaking. I had met some new friends at college and started hanging out with some new people. Making new friends wasn't anything out of the normal for me. I had some great friends in my life and I wanted to add more. As the weeks went on and the more I was hanging out with these friends, I started to get worse mentally, and as per usual, I tried to ignore it and put on a happy face. My old friends didn't buy it, and they all told me that I was getting worse and some of the new people I was hanging out with were encouraging this negative behavior. I blew them off, all of them. I stopped hanging out with them, ignored texts and calls, and burnt the bridges I had with them. This went on for a few months and at the end of the last month, I cut myself loose from those new friends and the negative behaviors that went with them. I burnt those bridges too and I realized soon after that I had no one to go back to. I was alone on an island with no way back to the people who truly cared me.
Some of those friends instantly welcomed me back with open arms and helped in every way they could to see me get better. I'm truly thankful for those friends and they know exactly who they are, and how much they mean to me and how much I love them.
As for those who I pushed away and never wanted to repair that bridge, I don't blame you. No part of me is mad or upset with anyone who didn't want to be friends after all of that. If any of you read this by chance, I hope you know how sorry I am for all of it, for hurting you, pushing you away. I made a lot of mistakes in that time. I own them and have learned from them.
I don't really talk about that time of my life, and for good reason. It was a dark time in my life and I don't have a desire to act like that ever again. There's a song lyric that goes "Love your friends, die laughing." and I think that's a great way to live. The thing is, you won't have anyone to love and I'm sure you won't die laughing if you burnt every bridge for something that you cannot see is bad for you.
I love my friends, I'm so thankful for those who helped me get better and still encourage me to this day. You know who you are, and you know that I love you all.
Oh, yeah! One last piece of advice, don't burn bridges, love your friends and yanno, have a few laughs with them along the way.
