While in the relationship, my ex helped me grow.
My ex taught me that it’s okay to leave some people behind, that there are always new people to meet. My ex taught me what it’s like to motivate someone and how to let someone motivate you. He taught me that I could prove people wrong. He taught me how to defy expectations.
My ex taught me how to love someone. He taught me how to care for another person more than I care for myself. He taught me how to communicate and how to listen.
After we broke up, I still continued to learn.
My ex taught me that I’m stronger than I ever knew. He taught me that you should never let one person hold you back from living out your dreams. That you should never let anyone else dictate your life. That there are people willing to pick up your pieces, even if you didn’t treat them right in the first place. He taught me that there is so much more to the world.
And my ex taught me how to be broken. And how to recover from that brokenness. He taught me how to be completely miserable, sad, and useless. Then he taught me how to move on from that feeling. He taught me how to grow and learn on my own.
Though the ways I learned these lessons were painful, they were necessary. Because now I’m better. Now I’m moving on. And the positively reinforced lessons, as well as the negatively reinforced ones, made me who I am today.
Someone who can stand on her own.
I won’t thank you for what you taught me about myself – but one day I think I’ll thank myself. For pushing forward, despite all the odds.
Rosie Culture 
Everything indeed happens for a reason. He’s just another tool to make you a better person–version 2.0, i realize. And you should thank yourself for still pushing through. That’s really incredible. 🙂
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You are totally right! I think one day I’ll wrote a thank you post to myself 🙂
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Thank you for the reminder of what we learn from a bad situation or person that didn’t work out in our lives. I focus on what he did to hurt me, but instead I need to focus on how I learned from that.
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No problem 🙂 I often get bitter about the break up, but I reflect on the lessons I learned and the person I’ve grown to be to make myself feel better
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Another perfectly timed post, beautifully written. ❤
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Thank you! Hope it helps 🙂
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My ex taught me the very same things! Great post. 😊😊
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Thank you 🙂
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I am always amazed, even though we live and blog from such different perspectives, how much in common my thinking has with yours. So glad to “meet” people in the blog world who challenge and inspire me. I always look forward to your posts.
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Thank you so much! The blogging world really is amazing 🙂
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We have to go through these phases and as you say, we get stronger. I can’t imagine how it would be if I had never experienced a relationship from the beginning till the painful end. Great post! xx
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So true, it’s really an experience. Thanks for reading 🙂
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This is beautiful.. thank you for posting this it has given me a better outlook on moving on from the past
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