Breaking Promises

Promises, like rules— are made to be broken, eh? Might not be a good idea to break all promises we make but sometimes it feels divine. Although consequences are always disappointing, they shake the ground of trustfulness, still, sometimes the taste of betraying oneself adds a different flavour to life’s usual routine especially when it’s meant for an ex— you know, promised not to contact again but you get texts asking you to spare a moment and come to say hello somewhere special. Yeah, it feels good. At the same time, it questions your confidence level; are you bold enough to say no?

Good thing is, I don’t usually make promises. There’s a special way I skip such tight situations— I’ll think about it, a simple yet convenient way to stay true to yourself. Satisfies both parties.

But why do we make promises?

To assure something? To put someone at ease? Or both? Could be none as well? It depends on the individual situation, sometimes we make promises to escape the uncomfortable situation we are in, false promises. But what is false to you might be true to the other side. You know you are filling up the person with lies but he/she might be taking your words as saints. If you are promising something with intentions to keep, but somehow it’s time to break it, only then do you know how difficult it is to encounter unwanted obstacles and stay true to the words given. This is the time we realise the underestimated difficulty of being true to ourselves.

And being true to ourselves is the most difficult thing we may have to endure in our life.

It tests our mental strength, pushes us to our limit— and creates a line between honesty and falsehood. The choice is ours, whether to shine in our sincerity or submerge into the realm of falsification, where the latter is far easier to end up with. In fact, most of us prefer falsifying our identity to showing our true nature. Ask yourself, how many times you remain true to yourself in a day. Perhaps most of the day given that you are good folks, but at some point, we get derailed and act otherwise. This is because maybe we want to act smart even though we aren’t or we are too reluctant to show off, trying to be the alpha of the pack regardless of the means necessary to do that.

Our tendency to keep promises defines our characteristics. It tells us how truthful we are, and how reliable. Once broken, apologising might not mend it. Even sometimes the person for whom you have given up promises, he/she might think of you as a dishonest person. Doesn’t matter how good your explanation is, repairing trust never gets as easy as it was before breaking promises.

That’s why it’s better to think before you speak. Not necessarily you have to agree on everything, try to understand if you can withstand the burden of carrying those words despite the odds. Are you up for the challenge? It seems hard to say no in the first place, it really is, but if you can be true to yourself at that time, it might save you from unwanted hassle— seeing your ex, for instance, although you mutually promised to avoid each other at any cost cause that’s the best for both of you.