We all wish relationships and situations could last forever, but sometimes they are not meant to. Find out signs it’s time to leave, and how to do it while successfully moving forward with your life.
Life is full of amazing experiences, but one minute things are amazing, and the next, they are just not. It would be nice if things would stay great forever, but they don’t sometimes. That means it’s time to walk away. Join SpiritualBlossom to find out when it’s time to leave. Find out what that means and why we have to leave sometimes. Find out why leaving is so difficult and just how to do it. Then find out the wonderful things that come next. Leaving can break your heart and feel impossible sometimes, but when it’s time, you know you need to leave. Find out how to do it and move forward to better things.
What Does it Mean to Leave?
“ There’s a weird freedom in letting go of what you lost and looking forward to the possibilities the empty space leaves behind.”- James Lanman
When we say that we are leaving, it means that we are completely stepping away from a situation, a person, or a way of life. We might be leaving a relationship or we might be leaving a job. The relationship we leave may be long-term or it could be short-term. Leaving just means that we are no longer going to participate in something at all. It doesn't mean reducing the amount of time that you spend somewhere. It means never going there again.
Some people brag that they never leave, but that isn't true. We might leave when something is finished. When you're no longer in elementary school, you leave there. When you graduate from college, you leave your university. So leaving isn't necessarily something upsetting. It's just inevitable. Every day we are changing what we do. We have to leave one situation before we step into another one. It's not always a choice, sometimes it happens on its own.
Leaving doesn't mean that we lack commitment, and it doesn't mean that we don't care. It just means that we know it's time. Sometimes leaving feels good, and sometimes it hurts. If nothing ever changed, or if everything was perfect, most of us would probably never leave. Some people consider the changes in life that cause us to leave as good things because they move us forward to do things we would have never thought to do if we had not needed to leave. Cheating sometimes causes people to leave and you can read what to do if you find out someone cheated on you here: What Happens if You’re in a Cheating Relationship?
What Do We Leave?
“ If you’re brave enough to say goodbye, life will reward you with a new hello.”- Paul Coelho
Some people think the only thing we leave is romantic relationships, but we can leave any type of relationship. We can also step away from behaviours and habits that we formed, and we can step away from situations that no longer serve us.
Relationships
If you're single and don't want to be, you can think that a romantic relationship is the only type of relationship there is. We have relationships with friends, family members, people in our community, and people at our jobs. All of these relationships touch a different part of our lives and serve a different purpose. Some people say we're brought into each other's lives for a reason, and when we have served that purpose, we leave. Other people believe that we get to choose how long we're in each and every relationship that we are blessed to experience. No matter why relationships begin, they sometimes have to end.
Habits
We develop habits that serve purposes too. You may be in the habit of sleeping past the alarm in the morning because your body wants more sleep. You may decide to change that by going to sleep earlier at night so you're not as tired when you try to wake up early in the morning. Some habits are harmful ones, and we don't realize the harm that we're doing. Substance abuse, staying in toxic cycles, or just eating an unhealthy diet are all habits that we may decide to leave behind. When we leave behind habits, we tend to replace them with other ones. The foods we eat are habit forming. Find out how food heals or harms here: Poisons in the Kitchen- How Food Harms or Heals
Situations
Jobs, living situations, volunteer positions, or just hobbies that we keep are situations that we believe we're going to stay in forever. Very rarely do these things not change. Sometimes you find a better job, a better living situation, you get tired of your volunteer position, or you don't enjoy your hobby anymore. Every experience we have changes us and when we change, the things we do changes. While you're changing because of the situation you may see a situation that's better, or you may decide that this situation just isn't good anymore. You have no choice but to leave.
Can’t We Stay Forever?
“ If not forever, stay with me the longest time you can.”- Anonymous
It would be nice if we could decide to stay in good situations forever. Sometimes we're not the ones that get to make that decision. Your job might be liquidated by your company and you will have no choice but to leave. The person you're married to might demand a divorce, and you have no choice but to move forward with your life without them. The schedule that you keep might no longer serve you and you may have to change. Some people say the only thing consistent in life is change itself. Because we can't control everything, we can't always stay when we want to. We have to be fair and realistic about things. Find out how here: Embrace Reality - Breaking Away from Unreality
Why Leaving Hurts
“ It hurts to leave a lie, but it hurts more to live one.”- Brent Weeks
Since leaving can be so helpful sometimes, it doesn't really seem like it would make sense that it hurts. Sometimes it does. Leaving hurts sometimes because we don't feel ready or change is difficult. Sometimes leaving hurts even though we know we need to but the unknown is more frightening than the bad things that we're used to.
We Don’t Feel Ready
What if leaving is a mistake? What if we can never go back once we leave? What if we lose people who mean a lot to us? What if we screw everything up when we leave and there's nobody to help us make it better? What if we've really got it good and we just don't appreciate how good we've got it right now? What if leaving is the worst mistake we ever made because we're just not ready?
Sometimes we think that we have to prepare before we leave. The truth is, we're never going to be fully prepared for everything. A lot of times we won't have anything to fall back on and there will be nobody to help us if we make mistakes. We may have to completely rely on ourselves and things can be very difficult, but think about something else. Sometimes moving forward into something else is a learning process and we get better at it the longer we do it. Sometimes every step we take teaches us something else so we actually are ready, even if we think we're not.
Change is Hard
Let's face it, we have a lot of things to do and sometimes we don't have enough time or energy to do all of it as well as we would like to. Change takes time to get used to, so we are adding all of the new things that we have to learn. We've made a change and walked away and it can be terrifying because we just don't know if we're going to have the time or energy to do it well. Imagine how much time you will waste if you don't change by walking away from bad things into good things. Difficulties seem easier when we focus on what they teach us. Find out how to be a lifelong learner here: The Fine Art of Lifelong Learning
The Unknown is Scary
A bad relationship, job, or habit can feel good- simply because it’s what you are used to. It is comforting because it’s what you know and there are no surprises. But what if leaving opens the door for new things that are pleasant surprises? What if the things that you move forward to are so wonderful that you forget all the bad times in your past? Instead of being afraid of what could go wrong, hope for the best and look forward to the good things that are waiting for you when you leave a bad situation.
Why Leave?
“Pain will leave you when you let go.”- Jeremy Aldana
The reasons we leave are simple. We have grown past something if things are obviously not working out. We leave when we are not cared about or are not appreciated. We leave because something is hurting, and leaving takes away the pain. We leave because we know we deserve better and we have hope that better things are waiting for us. We leave when it is time and when we feel ready. We also leave for self-preservation and you can read about that here: The Case for Self-Preserving
How to Walk Away
“ It’s so hard to leave- until you leave. And then it is the easiest thing in the world.”- Anonymous
Deciding to walk away is one thing, actually doing it is another. First you have to actually get up and leave and that means you have to sacrifice whatever it is that you need to leave behind. Then, instead of being afraid and worrying about the worst that could happen, be hopeful that the best is yet to come. Then there's just one thing left to do, get up and walk out.
Decide
Most of the battle of leaving is being ready to do it. If you don't feel ready, it's going to be difficult to even get started. The first step to walking away is to decide that it's time to do it. It's time to leave that toxic relationship, the job that doesn't appreciate you, or the situation that's just not helping you. You have to decide that you deserve something better, that you want something better, and you're going to find it.
Sacrifice
The next step is giving up that familiar relationship, situation, or habit that you are so used to. You have to give that up and leave it behind so that you can find something else. Sometimes it's easy to give these things up, but sometimes it's really difficult because you have a powerful emotional attachment to them. It might not be easy, it might hurt, and you might regret it, but you have to give it up if you want to leave it behind. One thing to sacrifice is the illusion of radical independence. Learn how here: The Problem with Being Radically Independent
Be Hopeful
Instead of worrying about all the could go wrong, think about all the could go right when you leave. Instead of dreading being single, think about being open to the possibility of healthy love for a change when you leave. Instead of worrying about feeling stupid when you're training at a new job, look forward to learning new skills and expanding your qualifications. Instead of worrying that it's going to be difficult to eat healthy, imagine how much better you're going to feel when you do. Keep a positive outlook and be hopeful for the best things that could happen when you leave a bad situation and move forward because good things are about to come your way.
Just Do It
You have decided it's time, you sacrificed what you needed to leave behind, and you have a positive outlook about the good things that are about to come. Next, pack, give notice, or do whatever you have to do and just walk out the door. They say that the journey of a lifetime begins with one step, but there's one thing they forgot to say. The journey of a lifetime begins with a step, yes, but a step in the right direction- and there is only one way to move- forward- and never look back. Leave, and move into the next thing! If it seems chaotic at first, you can find inner peace. Find out how here: Inner Calm in the Midst of Chaos
Now What?
“ Things end. People leave. And you know what? Life goes on.”- Elizabeth Scott
Now comes something amazing- the rest of your life. Some experiences stay in our lives from birth to death, but we are designed to have multiple different things in our lives. After you leave someone or something that you need in your past, you walk forward into your future. The dead-end job did not define you. It was a stepping stone to the next step in your career. The romance with the cheat did not ruin you for love. It was a learning moment that is now in your past. The habits that served you well that no longer serve you were once useful, and they helped when they needed to. Now go forward.
Leaving can be difficult, and it can hurt, but nothing hurts worse than being stuck where you don’t belong. Walking away happens when you decide it’s time, you give up what is not serving you, and with a positive outlook, you do it! Remember, leaving can be hard, but it is one of the easiest things to do once you begin. Once you leave things that drag you down, hold you back, or hurt you, it’s time to shine. Move forward into the rest of your life- and never look back!
Would you like help deciding if it’s time to leave? Reach out for a reading any time any day to find out!
About the Author: Lady Saoirse has studied magic and lore for most of her life but started walking her own Magical Path after being spiritually reborn in the desert. Today she is a High Priestess for The Temple of the Goddess, she is a psychic advisor and spiritual counselor, she shares her gifts as a Psychic and Content Writer for Mysticsense and SpiritualBlossom, and she writes for PaganPages.Org emag and Green Egg Magazine.
