It’s Okay to Walk Away

Day 17: It’s okay to walk away.

As we grow and change, it is only natural that there will be friends and relationships in our lives that are no longer a fit, but how do you know when it’s time to walk away for good? It’s something only you can decide, but my best advice would be to first ask yourself if that friendship/relationship is contributing anything positive to your life, or is it just causing you unnecessary stress? None of us need additional stress in our lives!

If there is someone in your life that seems to only bring you negativity and cause you pain lately, it may be time to walk away. We all go through rough patches and although at the end of the day our happiness is our own responsibility, a true friend will still do their best to bring some sunshine into your life on those dark days. The problem arises when you develop the expectation that they are obligated to do so. You forget that they are doing it because they care, acting from the heart.

Being there for you, trying to help and offering their support is a choice. You should be thankful for those actions when they are offered, not demand them because you feel entitled to them! That is the difference and it’s a big one.

People get busy, they make other plans, life happens. Getting upset every time something doesn’t go your way can be extremely exhausting and is quite frankly a bit childish. That type of behavior can become draining on a person and it’s not fair either. Especially when the person you are lashing out at has done their absolute best to be there for you and been on the receiving end of a ton of unkindness you’ve already thrown at them! Remember, they don’t have to do any of it, but they have because they care.

Just because you are someone’s friend, best friend even, doesn’t give you the right to dictate their life or treat them however you want and expect them to just take it over and over again. The more you try to, the more you will push them away. Until one day, they will come to the realization that staying may be just as unhealthy for them as it is for you.

The more you learn to acknowledge your own self-worth, the better able you will be to identify unhealthy relationships and walk away. At the end of the day, you need to ask yourself, “Did I give it my all?”

If you did, it’s not your fault it wasn’t good enough and there is no sense prolonging the inevitable. It may very well be time to walk away. It may be painful, but neither party will be able to grow if they continue to engage in unnecessary conflict and negativity.

The best thing to do, for you both, may just be to walk away. You can’t fix everyone and not everyone is going to stay on the same path as you. Some folks veer to the left and you have to let them go so you can keep moving forward. If you keep getting hurt by this person or you are walking on eggshells around them because you never know when they will flip out on you about something, that is not a healthy friendship/relationship. And unfortunately, someone in that mindset may not be clear-headed enough to see the error in their behavior, but that doesn’t justify you having to endure it any longer.

It may just be time to walk away.