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“Leave someone better than you found them.” It led to me staying faaaaar too long in an unhealthy relationship, trying to cure problems that I imagined myself
by afarrell 4y ago
“Leave someone better than you found them.”
It led to me staying faaaaar too long in an unhealthy relationship, trying to cure problems that I imagined myself responsible for causing. Sometimes you need to forgive yourself and move on. The Pottery Barn Rule and the Boy Scout Rule apply to things, not people.
- bnjemian 4y agoI once took a golf lesson when I was a kid and, in learning about the divot removal tool, was told a similar one about the way to operate on a golf course: "Leave it better than you found it." I couldn't care less about golf, but this one stuck with me because it speaks to environmental stewardship. It's like a constructive riff on the mantra for when you're out in Nature: "Don't leave a trace."
- afarrell 4y agoRight. I can control the rubbish in the natural environment. I cannot control the rubbish in another person's worldview -- only my own.
- nicolas_t 4y agoYup, great advice for a lot of contexts but not for relationships. This has been a hard lesson to learn and I've wasted 5 years of my life because of this.