Life Advice, Epiphanies and Rainy Afternoons



There are times (admit it) when the people you are closest to make you crazy. If you are like me, there are times where you want to grab them by the neck and strangle themand there are probably times that we all deserve that. Yet, I digress.

This Monday, for me, was quite an interesting one. As I continue my journey, I spend a lot of time in my head. I think a lot. Then again, someone has to, right? Yet, in all of my thinking, about many things, and in gearing up for a few conversations that need to be had, I was also smacked straight in the face by my own words.

You see, as a real estate trainer, it’s my job to relate certain things to my agents. When I was teaching an expired listings class today, I related the emotional experience of the seller to a horrible break up. Naturally, my take on it got a few laughs.

I said, “Expired sellers are a lot like an attractive woman when she changes her Facebook relationship status to ‘single’. All of a sudden, people are crawling out of the woodwork, all with the same false hope and empty promises as the last loser.”

Yes, they thought it was funny.

Butis there perhaps some truth to that? I would say so.

However, the real epiphany came this afternoon.

It was a rainy afternoon. I had a real estate agent in my office, and we were talking about life, love and relationships as we were working on some of his projects. He told me about his last one, and how he regretting letting someone in his life go; how he was stupid to let her walk away. He told me that when they were together, he avoided a relationship like the plague, and now that she was gone, that was all he wanted. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he missed her, that he was still very much in love with her.

Then, he asked me the million dollar question, “How do you know if you are in love with someone?”

I looked up at the ceilingand it hit me like a ton of bricks. In fact, it was something someone near and dear told me once; something my grandmother (someone who was married for 50 years) told me a million times.

I told him, “When you can talk like you are best friends, play like children, laugh like crazy, fight like spouses but can’t stay angry and protect one another like brother and sister.” Sometimes, when you say things outloud, the meaning they carry means more than the words themselves...

So, on this rainy Monday afternoon, my friend and I reached a consesus. The conclusion we came to is that all relationships take worka lot of it. And with the right amount of work, love follows. Although, I believe that love leads. Or, at least it should.

So my takeaway from today is this: When you have someone like the person I described above in your life, you’d be a damn fool to let them go. Because after that, all that is waiting for you on the other side is regret.

What about you? The question of the night is the one I was asked today, “How do you know when you are in love?”


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