Antonio Pascual-Leone

And in some sense, she was the brave one and she ended the relationship, which had come to a kind of a natural conclusion.

Relationships really need to be reinvented every seven years or so.

But this one...

had run its course.

And yet I was having trouble letting go of it and just wanted to make it work.

But then when it became really clear the relationship was ending and was over, I guess I realized that the way

you handle the end of a relationship defines you in some way or that it would define me, right?

I mean, I'm the kind of person who, and then you fill in the blank for yourself, right?

If you're the kind of person who's hateful and angry and destructive, well, then that's who you are, right?

And I think there's kind of a moment where I realized that

this was an opportunity to honor the relationship to, you know, I was unhappy that it was ending, but at the same time, it was somebody I learned a lot from.

This was somebody who I cared for, who cared for me.

The relationship's now over.

And in some sense, give it the funeral it deserved, right?

I think that changed me because it's a choice point, an existential choice point.

I think I also came out with a,

with a sense of clarity or a sense of direction.

realizing that i needed somebody that that was ready to to put me first uh that was ready to champion me in a way you know there's an old definition of love is something along the lines of um when you are able to make other people's needs your own right um

or kind of support somebody in what they need.

And so I was willing to do that for somebody, but I also needed somebody who's willing to do that for me.