Are You Growing Together?

Have you and your best friend grown apart? Do you feel a disconnect in your marriage? Have you and a family member stopped speaking to one another?

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “people come into your life for a reason, season or a lifetime.” Although cliché, it is 100% accurate.

Throughout our lives we encounter many people along our journey. Not every person can stay in our lives forever, no matter how much we want them around.

Some people enter our lives and they play their role. They help you figure out who you are and who you want to become. Sometimes, it is a clear indication of what you don’t want. And then they leave. What’s most often left behind is pain, but also the lesson that you learned while they were a part of your journey.

Growing apart from people who do not seek to grow is OK. Growing apart from people who are growing in a different direction than you is OK, too.

As we continue to grow, people will continue to come in and out of our lives. Realizing that the people who have played a big part in your life don’t see things the way you do is complicated. Sometimes it seems impossible to reconcile. And it can be devastating. Accepting this fact can be grueling. Often, we’ve spent crucial years of our lives with a person and now they seem like a distant stranger.

It’s common to be hit with a flood of thoughts and memories when coming to terms with outgrowing someone. Part of the process is having to relive some of the closest memories you had with this person. The “I should have’s” are normal.

Make peace with the fact that people can remain in your heart, but not in your life.

If we’re not growing together, we’re growing apart.

Carrie