15.
The Art of Hope
“A true relationship is two imperfect people refusing to give up on each other.” ~ Anonymous
“You can’t just give up on someone because the situation’s not ideal. Great relationships aren’t great because they have no problems. They’re great because both people care enough about the other person to find a way to make it work.” ~ Anonymous
Do you have any relationships that have been damaged? My bet? Your answer is yes. How it became damaged probably happened one of two ways:
- You were the cause because of something you said, did, or are currently doing;
- Your friend, family member, or co-worker was the cause because of something they said, did, or are currently doing.
Damaged relationships hurt. They create heartbreak and pain in our lives that tend to hang on for a long time. We can respond to the pain in many ways, the first way being resentment. We can become resentful and pass the blame on to the other person, whether we were the cause of it or not (I do not recommend this). Second, we can allow the hurt to affect our other relationships negatively. When we focus so much on the pain of what happened, our other relationships suffer (also not recommended). Third, we can try to see our responsibility in the hurt and do our best to reconcile the relationship (recommended!). Or fourth, we can understand that sometimes the other person needs to go through their