When a relationship ends, it’s hard to separate the good memories from the painful ones. It’s hard for us to let go because we don’t want to put to waste all the good things that has happened to us all those years. At the same time, we can’t just discard the painful memories, we can’t pretend that those things never happened because they have, and they have taught us things we just can’t leave behind.
Maybe one way to reconcile this is to think that even our painful memories have turned out to work for our good. We are now wiser and stronger because of them, and they’re as much a part of us as all the other good memories we had with the people we loved.
One relationship may end, but a new one may still begin, a new relationship formed by two people who have already changed and become better from everything that they’ve been through, both the good ones and the bad.
The thing about hope is that it’s a positive force that shines the most when it’s dark. When everything’s going well, we hardly notice it’s there. But when things go against us, when our dreams fade and when we see no immediate reprieve from our troubles, that’s when hope does its best work for us.
"Where Hope Can Be Found"