If I were to go back in time and give my high school self one piece of advice, I’d say this, “It’s okay to let people go.” Especially for myself, oftentimes I found it very hard to let people in my life go, even if they were not what was best for me. Whether it be a friendship or even a situationship, letting someone go can be a very tough task. It can feel like a very wavy decision, where your mind goes to all the what-ifs, and just feeling like it might be a mistake. But I wish I wouldn’t have let the fear of what could happen stop me from making this decision, and just did what my gut was telling me to do.
Sometimes letting someone go is just you being able to recognize that they no longer fit or are good for your life. Letting someone go doesn’t need to be a whole ordeal. It’s important to choose yourself, especially when that person doesn’t make you feel good about yourself. Reflecting on my time in high school, I found myself sticking around certain people that didn’t make me feel good or encouraged bad decisions. But I often stayed due to the fact we’d been friends for so long that it felt like I had to stay. But that’s not the way friendships should be. You should never feel scared or uncomfortable when thinking about people you have relationships with. That’s something I wish I realized earlier
To go along with friendships, just because you let someone go does not mean you don’t care about them. You can hold a lot of love and memories with someone, but sometimes they are just not right for you anymore. That will always be okay. Truthfully, it’s best to let someone go before your relationship potentially gets worse. If something doesn’t feel right, and it hasn’t been getting better for a long time, that means it’s time. Because down the line you may both be different people and potentially reconnect in a much better place. At least, that’s what my experience has been now that I am in college.
I wish I had given my high school self much more grace when it came to aspects like this. My 15-year-old self just always felt so worried about how others perceived me and what would happen if I made certain decisions. But keeping people in your life who don’t serve you well can just create unnecessary problems. Again, letting someone go doesn’t need to be an ordeal. You’re allowed to let people go, even if you thought they’d always be there. Sometimes that’s not the way life pans out to be.