How Ending Part of a Relationship Made it Better
My partner and I broke up so we could grow closer together.
Hold up, let me provide some context:
Matthew and I became best friends in the summer of 2020. I had never felt so seen and known by anyone in my life. Within a month of knowing each other, we knew we’d be in each other’s lives forever.
Our friendship had grown into a romantic partnership by the summer of 2021. I knew I had found the ONE. Or so I thought…
But a shared home, a dog, and 15 months later, we found ourselves staring into the sobering realization that the only way forward was apart. Why am I sharing the details of a breakup with over a thousand of Momentum’s closest friends?
This situation was the perfect embodiment of Fundamental #18: “Practice blameless problem-solving.”
There were a few things we knew for sure:
We were committed to being in each other’s lives forever.
We were committed to each of us having everything we dreamed of.
Us being in a romantic partnership was getting in the way of us having everything we dreamed of.
So with our egos to the side, we practiced blameless problem-solving. We communicated the impacts we were having on one another and processed the emotions that came with it. We re-evaluated the expectations we had placed on each other and aligned on what felt good moving forward. For us, that looked like friendship, puppy co-parenting, and one of us finding a new place to live.
As the romantic partnership fell away, so did all of the judgments of who we thought the other person should be.
That’s not to say it wasn’t hard or sad. But grieving the end of the romantic part of our relationship deepened the love and appreciation we have for one another. It felt like growth.
Thank you, Matthew, for being the clearest mirror and greatest teacher I’ve had. There’s nobody I would rather grow up with. I am so excited to see where this journey takes us next.
Love,
Comment below
or
Fundamental of the Week #19: FIX PROBLEMS AT THE SOURCE
Address issues by discovering the root cause rather than focusing on the symptoms or the consequences. Continuously seek improvement by developing long-term solutions.
Momentum Consulting offers executive business coaching, top-level executive consulting, team trainings and team off-sites to build and transform your business to the next level. Inquire about business consulting and leadership coaching today.
