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The ‘Right’ Reason to Break Up With a Good-on-Paper Partner
A number of years ago, in the immediate aftermath of the prolonged and heart-wrenching breakup that almost ruined my life, a friend sent me an essay she thought I should read. I absorbed the highlights:
Go, even though you love him.
Go, even though he’s kind and faithful and dear to you.
Go, even though he’s your best friend and you’re his.
Go, even though you can’t imagine your life without him.
Go, even though he adores you and your leaving will devastate him.
Go, even though your friends will be disappointed or surprised or pissed off or all three.
Go, even though you once said you would stay.
Go, even though you’re afraid of being alone.
Go, even though you’re sure no one will ever love you as well as he does.
Go, even though there is nowhere to go.
Go, even though you don’t know exactly why you can’t stay.
Go, because you want to.
Because wanting to leave is enough.
My friend copied and pasted the above excerpt — a block of beatitudes for the guilty heart — into the chat window so that I could read it first…
