I’ve always heard that you should be careful not to burn bridges because you never know which ones you may need to cross at some point later in your life. To a certain extent, I get it. It would be awful to ruin all ties to someone you later realize you want to reconnect with, but some bridges don’t ever need to be crossed again even if you want to cross them. So far, I’m happy with the bridges I’ve burnt, and I’ll tell you why.

Long story short, I don’t need that kind of negativity in my life. If a person continually tries to pick fights with me or start some sort of drama, I don’t need that. If that person also shows no remorse and shows no signs of ever changing, I am willing to cut all ties. I have no time to constantly entertain someone like that. I have more important things to do. I could even put a new battery in a brand new car, and I’d consider that a much better use of my time.

I’m not going to let a bad bridge stand just in case I may need to cross it one day. If the bridge is bad, I’d probably get hurt if I ever did try to cross it in the future anyway, so why should I leave it up? I’ll burn it.

Let me be perfectly clear. I don’t just go around burning a lot of bridges. In fact, I can think of only one or two that I’ve burned. One little argument is not going to push me over the edge, and I can shrug off a couple remarks that are less than respectful. Everyone says stupid things sometimes. In some cases, I may just walk away from a bridge for a while until things settle down, but I will not tolerate long-term disrespect. I have other bridges that won’t cause unhappiness.

My point is that you should think before you burn a bridge, but you shouldn’t keep ties with someone who does nothing but bring negativity into your life. Life is too short to deal with unhappiness that can ultimately be avoided. If someone constantly belittles you and causes drama, you don’t have to deal with that person. Do what’s best for you. If you still want that person in your life, you may want to consider telling that person how his or her actions are hurting you. It's your call. But if you don't want anything to do with the person, that's also fine. There's nothing wrong with reconciliation, and there's nothing wrong with walking away or burning a bridge because you realize that person won't change. It's up to you.