When do you have the courage to walk away?
From a long-term relationship or marriage that just doesn't seem to be working out. Easier said then done no doubt. And when there are kids and matrimonial assets involved, the propensity to grit your teeth and endure the frustration is stronger. But even walking away from a Significant Other of 5-10 years takes a whole lot of determination and single-mindedness, not to mention the heartache of realizing that much time was wasted in a futile investment of feelings.
What gives a person that extra iota of self-confidence to say au revoir? A new love perhaps. Or a soulmate that has finally, finally come knocking on your door. Maybe you've just about had it with the hurtful bickering, the increasingly divergent tangents of view, the ironic love-less love-making. Or the perfect and right boy/girl back then has simply become the wrong partner now? Perhaps too much emotional baggage is weighing the relationship down?
The easy way would be to tell yourselves to hang in there for a little bit more and see how things work out. But for how long and after how much misery? Trouble is, no one wants to make the final decision to call it quits. And there is rarely mature agreement between both parties on why things have turned out the way they have. Psychologically, the blame-game has begun. And when the selfish finger-pointing is allowed to fester beneath the facade of ' we're trying to work things out', mutual-denial only prolongs the inevitable ending.
When you test-drive a car and don't like it, you just return it. Wish it was this easy with marriages and relationships...