Saying goodbye
Saying goodbye to someone or something is sad, whether it’s a temporary goodbye or a forever goodbye.
Healthy Goodbyes Help Us Move On
One of the surest ways to become stuck in a new season is to be unintentional about moving on from an unhealthy relationship, toxic friendship, or terrible job.
Everyone handles good-byes in different ways.
Don’t Avoid the Goodbye
Although you want to avoid the ultra-emotional scenes described above, you don’t want to avoid good-byes altogether.
They are often painful, but we should use good-byes to help us transition.
Avoiding it can make the separation even more difficult and create a negative impact on the future.
When dealing with something painful, we are tempted to get it over with quickly.
With good-byes, give yourself time to do it properly.
It’s okay for it to be a process rather than a one-time event.
It’s okay to cry and feel sadness.
Don’t Focus On the Negative
Good-byes often give us the feeling of reflection.
When saying “good-bye”, take a moment to remember the good times or even the pain that may have happened.
Learn from the mistakes that were made.
Forgive anything that needs to be forgiven (whether it’s yourself or to others) and allow those good-byes to also be a fresh beginning, a new fresh start.
Have grace and smile.
It will be hard but it will make you feel so much better because you will remember in a time of sorrow you smiled.
That smile will carry with you.
Do Give Notice
This goes hand-in-hand with “don’t avoid.”
Because it will be difficult to say good-bye, we may be tempted to wait until the last minute to tell others we will be leaving.
This isn’t fair.
Give others (and yourself) time to process the change, work through emotions, and have time to connect with you before.
Saying goodbye sucks.
This was taken from Psychology Today,
“On NOT saying goodbye,
If we don’t get to say goodbye, resolution is harder to come by. We may never fully resolve the separation, and may find ourselves in a perpetual state of mourning, wondering what could have been. We may be left with feelings of regret, anger, confusion and guilt.”
- Remember that goodbye is part of every life.
- Not all separations are the same.
- Sometimes it is a relief to say goodbye, and that’s okay.
- Make room for lots of different emotions.
- Remember, goodbyes are part of life.
- Make room for strength of healing
This post was written by Lauren K., and published by Convenient Counseling Services.
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