Weekend Motivation 198

We’re gettin’ all sorts of spicy up in here this week! We’re often told to ‘let it go, be polite, that life is too short and never to burn a bridge along the way.’ Is that always true though? Nothing dramatic at all is going on in my life at the moment but I did hear someone say this in passing recently and did I ever take notice. We sometimes should just let it go and that’s the right choice but when it comes down to it some times you should set fire to that bridge and then just stand back an watch it burn.

So when is burning the bridge the right choice and how do you know? First let some time pass and think really hard and rationally about it. Very, very rarely would I suggest burning that bridge when you’re still in the middle of it. Next get in touch with what you want to do or say and why it is you want that. If you decide after all that thought you are done and you really should have said something already, then girl burn that bridge!

When you burn a bridge literally and metaphorically there very well might be consequences to deal with after the fact. It’s very likely you’re going to have a hard time getting around after that.  So if you go there expect that there will be consequences for you too. As a rule I’m a let bygones be bygones kinda girl. I don’t burn bridges very often but it has happened and when I do I’m sure it’s the right choice! One thing for me is customers that are basically abusive, just because you pay me and you pay me well doesn’t mean you get to treat me like garbage. Even if you live in a small town like me, even if you’re family burning a bridge sometimes just has to happen.

And I love that quote because we, especially women, tend to let things go sometimes when we definitely shouldn’t. Standing up for yourself when you should isn’t something we should feel bad about and doing it for the first time can be life changing. Once you start standing up for yourself when you definitely should or leave a situation that’s toxic you give yourself permission to burn bridges. We CAN actually learn a lot about ourselves and demand better from the people around us when it’s warranted. So yes most often we should let it go but every once and a while you just have to let it burn. Let those moments help you decide how to deal with things moving forward put another way let the bridges you burn light your way forward. This weekend take some time to think about the bridges you’ve burned, how you feel about those situations now that some time has passed. If you followed the guidelines above I’ll bet that answer is actually pretty good. If there’s a bridge to burn now think about that and what your hard boundaries are in case a situation comes up again.