The Recycling Bin...

There are interpersonal relationships in our lives that we can deem "toxic" to our personal and spiritual growth. Others, maybe not so much toxic, as just a little "stale". I feel like every so often we should go through our "friend fridge" and see what's still good to keep, and what has gone severely past its expiration date. But there are rare occasions when there's a relationship that just needs a little revamping, instead of going in the trash, could be better served to go into the "recycling bin"; taking a deeper look at the problems that perhaps need some tweaking, and recycling that relationship into something better and stronger. ...I could go into a long-winded analogy about your Emotional Carbon Footprint, but I fear I would lose some of you (and myself) along the way... I guess the reason this topic is on my mind is because I am faced with an interpersonal relationship in my life that I am currently weighing the fate of. They're a wonderful person, who had, at one point or another, brought great joy into my life. But that has ceased to happen, and I now find them causing me more stress and heartache than positive feelings. I am a woman all about forward-motion, and have a deep love for pouring into those who are pouring into me, helping one another learn and grow, but I don't see this happening with this slightly-expired relationship, and I'm forced to wonder if I trash them, or try to salvage what forged our bonds in the first place, and recycle what I can. I believe everyone deserves a second chance, but a fourth or fifth? Especially with people who were never quite "as there" for you as you were for them. I suppose all I can do is pray about it. But when your logical mind is saying, "The milk smells bad! Throw it away!" ...and then your friends and family come into this imaginary kitchen and say "Whew! That milk smells terrible! You should definitely throw it away!", it becomes increasingly difficult to see the benefit in keeping the spoiled milk. And letting it just sit on the countertop doesn't solve the problem either. It just makes your kitchen smell. Maybe discerning what relationships are ready for the trash is the EASY part; it's the follow-through that comes with saying goodbye, or having those tough conversations about what needs to be done to fix things, that are the truly difficult parts. Learning the answer is not as hard as having the answer, and having to do something about it. Just remember: if you spill the milk, don't cry over it. I hear there's no use.