We were something special, and my heart serves as a locket to our love story. The memories and lessons I learned with you continue to replay like a broken record, a million times over and over, and over.
The lessons I learned from our relationship are valid for every single relationship. I am glad we learned them, but it hurts to know we might have learned them too late. Despite our separation at the time, you taught me many things: meaningful communication is key to a successful relationship, honesty matters regardless of the truth it holds, setting personal boundaries in a relationship is important, and that rest is good for the mind, body, and soul.
1. Meaningful communication is key
You taught me that being intentional and mindful about the words that spew from our mouths is important. If one of us is upset, it needs to be acknowledged, verbally. I cannot expect you to know I am upset if I don’t say anything, nor could you expect that from me. The pathway of communication must stay open in order for the relationship to move forward united. It won’t always be easy, in fact it probably won’t be easy most of the time, but you taught me about the worth it would carry, and it’s worth is beyond an uncomfortable conversation.
2. Honesty matters regardless of the truth it holds
Happiness and joy is what we always want our significant other to feel while we are dating them, and if we can be the reason for that happiness, we will take the chance every moment we can, right?
You taught me that honesty must be communicated, even if it is ugly. When we begin sacrificing our happiness for our significant others’, we corrupt both from ever receiving it, because we aren’t being honest with ourselves, nor with each other. We must be honest with ourselves first, and then with each other, in order for us to fully understand one another.
3. Setting personal boundaries
At the end of the day, even in a relationship, I am me and you are you. We have common interests, but we also have personal interests. We have needs for our relationship, but we also have a need for our independence. You taught me the importance in honoring and respecting that.
Understanding it is okay for you to have a night with the boys, and for me to take a night to craft, or surround myself with women, and just for us to be apart, is actually healthy for us. We must honor who we are as individuals, honor each other as individuals, and then honor our relationship as the two of us choose to live inside of it.
4. Rest is good for the mind, body, and soul
Our bodies are designed to crave a time of rest, because we need it. You taught me to recognize when my body is screaming for rest, and to actually take the time to relax. It took training, mental restraining, self-discipline, and practice.
Constantly being on the go allowed me to ignore a lot of the pain I was living with. It allowed me to pretend that I was okay when really I was broken. You taught me that taking time to rest leads to taking time to heal my body, my mind, and my soul.
In order to live my best life, and to be the best significant other, I need rest.
You taught me more than I ever gave you credit for inside of the relationship. After we parted ways, I took a lot of personal rest and time for healing. In that time, I reflected on us, and recognized just how much I learned through our relationship. Despite what our future holds, the lessons you taught me are something that will stay with me, because they are lessons that can be applied to any and all relationships. For that, I want to say "thank you."
