Two Types Of Goodbyes - Explore Archived World Race Alumni Blogs

As I sit and reflect over the last year one of the things that sticks out is all the “Goodbyes” I had to say. These goodbyes started in Maine as I said farewell to family and friends for a year to leave on the journey. It ended with saying goodbye to the ones I got to know as my family, the ones I spent the whole year with. The group of 30 crazy, incredible fellow world racers they call “F Squad”. And was filled with hundreds of goodbyes that seemed to happen almost every day as we made our way from one town, one country, or even one continent to the next. I can honestly say that for me, goodbyes have been one of the hardest parts of this year. It was fairly difficult to say goodbye to those I was leaving for a year, like my family and friends. But to be honest the real challenge was saying goodbye to those I knew I would probably never see again. These people have become a part of my family too. I have started to realize the difficulty of goodbyes lies within your intentionality with those around you. When you think about it, there’s really only two different types of goodbyes.

A hard one, and an easy one. This is something that became very clear to me this year. I’m not going to sit here and tell you every goodbye was hard. But honestly I wish they all were. See I think it would seem like you would want an easy goodbye, especially after the amount of goodbyes I had over the year. But that’s not true at all.

An EASY goodbye on the heart is less difficult in the moment. But when you look back later on in life there’s this unsettled feeling, and maybe you find yourself asking “did i miss out on something that could have been greater then just meeting someone?” And all of a sudden that “easy” goodbye, turns into a long term missed opportunity.

A HARD goodbye is basically the exact opposite. The goodbye hurts, there’s a feeling of sadness because you have to say goodbye to someone who made an impact on your life, maybe there’s even warm hugs, an “I love you”, maybe even tears. But you can look back and smile that God brought you two together. You can laugh at the memories that made you close. And there’s no unsettled feeling that you missed on something because you took full advantage of the gift you were given in the moment.

See those are the goodbyes I live for. I’d choose a heartbreaking goodbye for a heartwarming friendship any day. So I’ve decided to fight for a hard goodbye every time I meet someone new. I want to cry in the moment and smile in the future. I want a piece of my heart to stay with them, and there’s with me. I started to think I didn’t have much more of my heart to give away. But honestly it’s a two way trade, for each part of yours given, some is received. Every goodbye this year wasn’t hard, and I can’t dwell on that. But I can look back and smile when reminiscing on the ones that were hard. Whether that person was in my life for 1 day, or 10 years. The type of goodbye is up to me, not the circumstances of time that surround the friendship. So I sit here today and just thank God that there are people in my life that it is hard to say goodbye to. We can’t avoid the fact that nothing lasts forever. But what we can do is remind ourselves of that and use it to strive for incredibly beautiful moments shared with each other. So I’ve started to choose not what is easy, but what is hard. And when I think I’m not strong enough, when I think “I don’t have any more to give, I don’t want another hard goodbye”. I remember I don’t get my strength from my own capabilities, I get my strength from the one who created me. The one who sees so much more in myself then I do. Then I remember “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians? ?4:13? ?

Just a small percentage of the people it was hard to say goodbye to this year.

My Momma