Last week, I talked about rejection – and especially what could happen if we just forget about rejection. This week, I’d like to talk about the flip side of rejection: leaving, and knowing when to leave.

I’ve not always been very good at knowing when to leave. I used to stay too long. Then, to counteract that tendency, I’d leave too early. Then back to staying too long and swinging like a pendulum between the two, searching for the just-right spot.

Sometimes I have to make up a story to convince myself to leave, to rationalize or justify it. Like with a job…I have to have a reason to leave. So I make it all mean something. I make it about them. I look for the reason that is based on someone doing something wrong, because that’s what makes it okay for me to take action.

Look, sometimes it is about the situation. Sometimes people do things that you shouldn’t put up with…you shouldn’t stick around. I just left a situation like that, but I did try to do it gracefully. We do need to be able to trust our gut and to know when an exit is necessary.

But what if leaving just means it’s time to move on? What if we don’t need anyone to be wrong. What if we just give ourselves an opportunity to grow and change and try something new? Not casually, but gracefully.

By the way, this blog is the first blog of my seventh year. It doesn’t feel quite like time to leave yet. Because I probably always should have been a writer and now I can be.

In the meantime, remember these things: You are loved. We are all loved. Let’s all be kind. And in all things – progress, not perfection!

Love, and light in the pages,

Maggie