"Goodbyes, good times."
Do you know this feeling, when you realize that your life changed a lot in such a short time?
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Let me tell you, I encountered this feeling several times. Unfortunately it sometimes appeared with a bitter taste. The first time I actually realized having this thought was after losing a very important person in my life. Every now and then I thought things like “Last year around this time I was at this place with her.” or “A couple years ago we were here together and now we will never be here again.”
Just recently I encountered the same feeling in a different situation. My best friend that I made here in Seattle had left unexpectedly early. It was a tough situation, because we’ve spent most of our time here together, made lots of memories, helped each other grow and really developed an amazing relationship. We knew this day would come at some point, but unfortunately it came earlier than expected. After a while I’ve been finding myself in that weird place again, where I thought “If she would still be here we could go out together right now.” One thing about this situation this time was different. Once I caught myself thinking this way, I switched my mindset. Instead of being sad, that I cannot go out with her, I started being thankful for that wonderful time we got to share together. I also started looking forward to the next time we get to hang out with each other.
Goodbyes are always hard, but we need to remind ourselves that some of them are not forever. Especially when it is just a person moving somewhere else, it can be easy to stay in contact nowadays. We have so many tools, we just need to make time and use them.
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From every goodbye in my life I could learn something, every single one helped me grow and understand more things in my life.
Instead of being sad, I chose to be thankful for the time I had with all the people before saying goodbye. It took me a while to get there, but it worked.
If anyone one out there is struggling with similar feelings, I hope that this post reaches you and that being thankful works for you too.