On Saying Goodbye

In high school my favorite teacher, during a lecture on world religions, had the class perform an exercise in Buddhism.  That day in class we worked the entire hour on a painting - the painting could be anything we wanted, the only stipulation was that we had to give the painting our all, make it the best painting it could possibly be - something that we would be proud of and want to hang on to.  I love creating and making things, so naturally I worked on the painting intensely - almost feverishly - the entire hour and when I was finished I literally loved the painting.  Then, with 5 minutes left in the class, the teacher instructed us to rip, crumble and throw our paintings away. 

Naturally, after having worked so hard on something and putting so much of myself into it I did not want to throw it away - I wanted to keep it, forever possibly.  I guess it stands to reason that the same goes for relationships.  I've been dating since I was 16 and (obviously) it hasn't gotten much easier to say goodbye to any of my numerous (okay 4) relationships, and my most recent goodbye has been no different.

However, I am trying to treat this most recent and (by far) most mature break up as my own exercise in Buddhism.  I created something special, that will forever be a part of my life, with another person but sometimes it's necessary to let go of one thing to move on to another.  Change, in every capacity, can be uncomfortable and difficult but I truly believe that it's one of the most important aspects of life - you'll never discover the new if you don't let go of the old.