As young adults, we all have a hard time opening up to the people that surround us in our day-to-day lives, but we have an even harder time when we have watched people previously walk out of our lives. We all struggle with the idea of opening up to others because we are afraid of what they will think or say. Personally, I have always had a hard time with this because I never want to come off as a fragile person, but over time, I have realized that it is not fair to others or myself to keep this barrier up any longer.
Regardless of who has walked in or out of your life, you have to continue to build relationships with the people around you. Over the past year, I have really wrestled with this concept. I let go of someone who was a big part of my life, and it has been one of the toughest but best learning experiences I have ever had. I went from a social butterfly to this girl who didn't really let anyone in. I hid from the honest truths of my life and blocked everything and everyone out.
Sometimes I bring him up in conversations with my friends, and they are shocked. I don’t bring him up because I miss him, I bring him up because I am still struggling with the aspect of losing the person who at one point I thought was the best part of my life. After months of fighting with this, I finally let myself move past those thoughts. You cannot let the memories and emotions keep pulling you back and hurting your present life. You have to learn to stand up for yourself, and come to the conclusion that you did love him or her, but you can love yourself even more, and that is absolutely okay.
When you let go of someone that is very important in your life or watch them leave, you lose a part of you that can really affect the way you live. At the time you think that they are everything you need, and maybe that is true. But if you needed them, it was because you needed to learn to love yourself more. Every day that goes by, you find a new way to love the memories you shared, but you learn to love your life now even more.
We cannot lie to others and ourselves in hopes that we will create this perfect image. We need to keep talking and opening up our hearts and voices. We cannot let the loss of one relationship close us off from the incredibly gracious bonds we can form.