Shelving Your Former Relationship

Imagine a nice snowy landscape.

And then imagine that there's a little shed in the middle of it all.

You walk towards the shed, open the door and find that there are many shelves within, just waiting to be filled.

This is the place where you store all your memories. Your little place for storing things that mean something really special to you.

Now imagine a box.

Yes, just like that.

But instead of the box in my other comic, this one is different.

This box is your box. And yours only.

And then imagine that your box contains all sorts of different compartments, one for each memory, each thought and each feeling that you’ve had during your former relationship.

When you are done with going through each memory...

When you’ve felt all that you needed to feel...

And when you’ve finished seeing through to the truth of each thought...

Take that memory, that feeling or that thought and put it into a compartment.

Some memories, thoughts or feelings can never be fully dealt with, and that’s fine.

That’s perfectly OK.

We can inspect those things with a magnifying glass all we want, turn them inside out and outside in, but sometimes, we just have to accept that we’re never going to get all the answers.

So, with a deep, deep breath, we let go of that very sad thing and put it in a compartment.

All those loose strings, let’s tie them up and place them into the box.

Yes, just like that.

Now, we start to close all the compartments in the box. We may look at them sadly, but we still close them.

And when everything is neatly closed, when everything is tucked away in its own little compartment, we lift that box carefully and place it on a shelf.

When we can do that, and do it courageously and determinedly, we can then say to ourselves that we have truly moved on.

Now, that box won’t go away. It’s still going to be a part of you.

It’s just shelved away, to be opened occasionally, not to make you sad, but in appreciation of all the lessons you’ve learned, and all the wonderful memories that you did have.

You’re grateful for that box, and when you do open it again, it’s to rearrange a few things or tie up a few more loose ends.

And then you close it once again.

You place it back onto that special shelf, dust it off a bit and walk away.

You’re always looking forward now.

You might glance over your shoulder occasionally, but mostly, you're excited for what's to come.

The future can be really bright, but only if you let it.

So let it.