With great strength and despite difficulty, the choice was to end the relationship. Maybe you made this decision with some ease, as trusting your gut comes naturally to you. Perhaps you stood at a relational crossroads for a while, weighing your options and seeking counsel from trusted friends and family. Regardless, here you are, choosing this path towards your next unwritten chapter. The Right Choice and the Hard Choice Can Be the Same Choice As we mature through the journey from childhood to adolescence to adulthood, we refine our emotion-regulation strategies. Yet ending a relationship at any age or stage in life is hard and understandably shakes the earth beneath even the hardiest among us. Even if breaking up feels like the right move, or the only move, the experience of losing someone who was once so significant inevitably stirs complex negative emotions. Shame , frustration, sadness, doubt, and anger , often complicated by nostalgia ...