Maybe Almost Relationships Aren’t So Bad

Almost.

I find it one of the saddest words in the English language. It implies not being able to reach what you ought to. It’s like you could have made it happen, but for whatever reason, it didn’t. And oftentimes, after every almost, you would be stuck convincing yourself that maybe it just failed to happen. Or maybe, it just wasn’t meant to be.

But the feeling brought by the word almost, more than sadness, is frustration. It’s the kind of frustration in having been able to reach a certain level of achievement but failing on the last one.

At one point in our lives, we all wanted someone we knew we couldn’t have.

We all wanted someone so badly, it hurt just to picture out the possibility of you being together. See, when you meet someone so in sync with your being, it becomes harder to accept the improbability of the two of you actually falling madly in love with each other, and you’d find yourself thinking about how you would have been so good together.

We may have broken our heart because of someone who was never ours to begin with.

I never quite understood why humans tend to find solace in the things that usually don’t last forever. We certainly have a knack for holding on to the people we know have the capability of breaking us, and sometimes, we let them break us because that’s just how love is. You put your heart in someone else’s hands regardless of whether or not they put their heart on yours.

Personally, I believe almost relationships hurt more than typical ones. Why?

Because almost relationships feel like walking on a tightrope,– inch by inch we tend to move closer to where we think we’re bound to be, except that we’re moving with the knowledge that one simple misstep can guarantee a fall.

In this kind of relationship, you tiptoe towards a certain person, thinking he would be there as soon as you cross the distance between the two of you, but oftentimes, that very person is the one who is holding a knife, ready to cut the rope you bravely stepped on to.

Betrayal. Abandonment. Feelings of unworthiness. These are very damaging experiences in itself. One could only imagine the intensity of these feelings when they’re brought about by the people who almost stayed.

But maybe, –just maybe, almost relationships aren’t so bad. Yes, they can be heartbreaking, but they could contribute a lot to one’s growth as a person. They can be frustrating as hell, but it does show you the reality of the world we’re in.

They teach us to be braver when taking giant leaps of faith.

Everything about almost relationships is uncertain. Human as we are, we tend to focus on the things we think will make us happy, and nobody really knows until it’s over, but there are lessons present in every moment of happiness and heartbreak. I think the greatest takeaway in almost relationships is that everything is a risk worth taking.

They teach us that not everyone will stay.

Almost relationships pose a deeper sense of longing to the one clinging to the hope that it will work out eventually. And nothing’s worse than imagining spending your life with someone who never saw you in theirs in the first place. It is in this way that almost relationships teach us that not everyone will stay, but someone– that one person,the right one, will.

They give us the freedom to discover.

Almosts give us a picture of what could’ve beens and a freedom to discover what we deserve. They show us that things can only be done better. They give us a wider perspective on love among other things.

Lastly,

Almost relationships are our stepping stones towards something greater.

We are all in love with romance, and because almost relationships have that, we hold on to them. But these relationships are among the temporary ones, and they are but one of the stopovers we were meant to make to learn and to be better for the one who’s worth all the heartbreak and the wait.

See, everything in life has a purpose. And we often only see it after standing up from a fall. It’s up to us to keep our faith that things will eventually work out for the better. Trust in the process.