Don’t Treat People as Bridges

My advice is simple, and it’s the advice I desperately wish someone had screamed at me:

If your relationship is dead, then bury it.

Don’t use another person as a life raft to escape your drowning one. Don’t use a secret affair as a bridge between two relationships. Leave first. End things with integrity. Walk away clean. Yes, leaving is hard. Yes, confrontation is terrifying. But a few weeks of painful conversations is nothing compared to the years of trauma you will inflict on everyone involved, including yourself, by cheating.

I’m telling you, from a place of deep, burning regret: Don’t cheat. The momentary excitement is a cheap high that leads to a lifetime of regret. If you are unhappy, be brave enough to end it. Be honest enough to walk away. That’s the only way to build a real, healthy future—and the only way to maintain your own self-respect.