Maybe I should say sorry. Although, that almost doesn’t seem appropriate because you had to be left behind. In the time we knew each other we shared many moments and memories, but at some point our lives changed too much. There was too much distance, both actually and metaphorically. Far too many problems occurred. I was going one way, and you were going another. You were important to me, but contested against my aspirations and dreams, you feel far too short. You made your choices, and although I did not agree with them, they were yours to make. However, that did not mean that I needed to be dragged down with you. I could not afford to be pulled to a path rife with negative influences and lacking motivation or ideal. There are too many things that I wish to accomplish. I am not content to idly watch my own life pass by me. I cannot and will not make choices that could hurt the future I envision for myself. As a student, as an athlete, and as a person I have worked too hard to let someone else pull me down. People are important, but you, as an individual, were simply not worth that possible damage. So, I had to let you go.

Cruel as this may sound, I no longer needed nor wanted you in my life. Perhaps, you needed me or we needed each other for a certain time. Maybe in some way, I wanted to pull you forward, to act as a positive influence in your life. Maybe I even succeeded at some point. However, somehow the balance shifted and you started to pull me down. With this realization, I began to detach myself from you in an attempt to protect myself. After all, a lighthouse cannot provide a guiding light if it is consumed by the darkness it was meant to banish. With every bad choice we grew further apart, because each time I became more reluctant to trudge down your path and attempt to pull you back to another one. I’m sorry. You just went so far, and at some point I could no longer follow. You meant a lot to me in the time we spent together, but our paths were headed in very different directions with no foreseeable intersections. I will keep walking this path that I chose; continue to be true to myself in order to pursue my dreams. Hopefully, you have found a path where you can confidently move forward as well. To the people who had to be left behind: Goodbye.