Relationships are like rivers, flowing and changing, sometimes over rocky rapids, sometimes deep and calm, but always moving forward.
One of the most interesting lessons I’ve learned in this game called life is to allow change to happen — to accept that life is best lived when viewed as a river where the water moves forward, not as a pond where the water sits still.
It hasn’t been an easy lesson. I’ve had to learn and re-learn over again to let cycles flow, to stop clinging to the rocks, to release my hold and move forward, to flow with the current and even enjoy the ride.
My relationships with other people benefit too when I allow those relationships to flow in their own natural rhythm — to accept that there will be periods of closeness and periods of distance, times when we click and times when we don’t.
Maybe some people just intuitively understand these things, but for me, it’s taken a lot of surrender and then acceptance to see that change, including change in my relationships, is just a normal part of life.
When someone pulled away, I used to think it was my job to fix it. Poke. Prod. What’s wrong? Let’s talk. Please explain. I don’t understand …
It never dawned on me that relationships, all relationships, have an ebb and flow to them — that relationships transform, just like the seasons. Can you imagine trying to stop spring, or stop winter, just because you like summer better?
That old saying: “If you love something let it go, if it comes back to you, the love is yours” is a scary proposition because it requires taking a risk. It requires letting go of what we think we need and what we think we want.
When we become truly singular, we realize that our fear of change has very little to do with reality. We can flow with the river of life, say goodbye to summer and welcome the fall, knowing summer will come again, when it’s time.
Copyright © Kim Calvert / 2013Singular Communications, LLC.
Kim Calvert is the editor of Singular magazine and the founder of the SingularCity social networking community. An outspoken champion of people who are living their lives as a “me” instead of a “we,” Kim oversees the creative direction and editorial content of the magazine and online social networking community. She secures contributors and is responsible for maintaining the fun, upbeat, inspirational and often-humorous tone of Singular, a lifestyle guide for successful single living.