#42: The Work Is Never Done

After 3 years of getting over my first breakup, I finally opened up again.

Just last July, I said yes and started a relationship with my current boyfriend.

In my mind, I was ready. I was confident and I've been in a healthier headspace in the past couple of years. I've done the inner work, I've binged self-help books and videos and blogs and newsletters and journaled a ton. I felt like I knew myself better, that I'm more mature to handle a relationship now more than ever, and I've learned what I had to learn during my season of moving on.

So surely being in a relationship won't be as hard as it was before.

Boy, was I wrong!

My trust issues, my insecurities, and my unhealthy tendency to be overdramatic crept back into my life. I find myself trying to hold fast to what I've rebuilt before, to not lose myself again, all while striving to make another person feel loved, valued, and seen.

It's a tug of war between my old self who always wants to get her own way and my new self who wants to be compassionate with both herself and others.

It just goes to show that the work we do in ourselves is never truly done.

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Hi, and thanks for reading! I'm Kishly, a cheerleader of creatives and copywriter turned marketing strategist. Bookmark this blog to read my daily atomic essays on marketing, compassionate productivity, creative living, and lifelong learning. Or subscribe to Process, my weekly-ish newsletter for young adults (and the young at heart) in pursuit of wisdom and wonder. ✨