People come and go, it’s a fact of life. But when it comes to you deciding to leave or stay, it’s more complicated then that. People in our lives effect everything we do weather we realize it or not, so surrounding yourself with people that are good to you and good for you is very important.

There are stories on the news all the time about people in abusive relationships, they are always asked “Why did you stay?” and the answer every time is “because he/she loves me.” What those people aren’t getting is the fact that if they truly loved you that means they respect you, value you, and care about you. You don’t physically or mentally break someone down to the point that they are questioning themselves, what’s wrong with themselves when there is nothing wrong with them. You don’t put someone you care about in a situation to lose them. This concept is the same even in less serious situations such as when it comes to leaving a group of friends.

Friends are not people that you feel like you are constantly walking on thin ice with. They are people that you feel you can be yourself with. Friends are not people that cause you or add stress to you. They are people that reduce that amount of stress. Some people stay in friend groups because they don’t know anyone else. There are more than 1,000 kids that go to this school. I promise you, if you are not being treated the way that you should be, go find other people because someone will care about you more and treat you better and you will be so much happier. The way I see it, whether in a relationship or in a friendship, if you are not happy, if you are not being cared for and if you are not being appreciated, then leave.

If you are going to put forward 90% and they won’t even put in 10% then there’s no point. Any type of relationship cannot be one sided, nothing will ever work out and leave both people happy if only one person is putting in all the effort. There are so many people in this world, and there is someone that will put forward that 50% that will match your 50%. But you should’t have to beg anyone to stay in your life. If they won’t fill that space in your life someone else will that cares.

Of course if we left anyone that ever hurt us, we would end up alone because the truth is everyone is going to hurt you, but the ones that apologize and change what they did in their actions, those are the people that you will fight for them to stay in your life. You don’t just give up when things get hard. Everyone has hurt someone, the difference comes in whether you change and try to fix what you do or not. It all comes down to if you care. If you don’t care, you won’t try, if you care, you’ll do everything you can do make things better.

If you are in a situation where you are questioning whether to stay or to leave take a while to think everything over, don’t make big decisions when you feel strongly one emotion. Think of all the sides and of everything that they have done and things you have done. You are not required to stay with someone who disrespects you, and you are not obligated to leave when things get hard. Weighing out the good and the bad can be hard, but it all comes down to how you feel and who you surround yourself with. So decide things after lot’s of thought, and do what you think is best for you.