Breaking The Cycle

Often times we are caught in the vicious cycle of an unhealthy relationship. It is a cycle that never stops, never sleeps; it only hurts and only creeps. It is a cycle that holds you tight in an embrace that is often times more suffocating than safe, and even if you wanted to break away you wouldn’t have the strength. It is a cycle that kills you slowly with broken “because I love you” promises, and promises are empty threats when you know they won’t come true. Yet denial lives on like a resistant virus, even as we fight to make it to the surface. Doubts and fears cling to our legs dragging us deeper and deeper into murky depths until there is no longer progression but regression. We cannot swim alone, but the surface is worth the hardship. The surface has fresh, clean air: air that has not been contaminated by insults and lies, backhanded threats and backhanded slaps, passive aggression and aggressive manipulation. This is air filled with hints of honeyed honesty; when you gasp a breath of it, you can finally understand why you deserve better than the cycle. This is air of compassion, trust, empathy, listening to hear rather than respond. This is air that is pure—simply pure.  It is as selfless as the sun itself, existing only to warm and love. So it is up to the ones who truly mean the words “because I love you” to help the ones who cannot swim alone. All it takes is a little push to lift them to the surface, to fresh air, to the radiant sun. “I love you” is more than just a hastily made promise, which is as frail and easily broken as cheap thread. “I love you” is a commitment upheld from the second it is made until the day those words can no longer pass from breathing lips, until the sun ceases to shine. It is stronger than steel and softer than snow, but also warm and comforting. It is a statement made with no intentions other than love itself. It is both invisible and clearly apparent, both subtle and bold. “I love you” is not a cycle, but a line. It spans from one point to another—steadily, strongly, consistently—with no bends or breaks in between.