By Polina Pallieraki,
If I had to confide in someone my worst word, would say it is “goodbye”. Because saying goodbye means you have to let something go. And let that leave you too. It means you have to continue with something else or even alone. It means that something has ended and something will change. It means that what you haven’t already said, you can never say, and that what you have said will stay there forever. The words: “I miss you”, “stay”. “I love you”, and “I want you” are forbidden. The word “goodbye” is by far one of the hardest.
”Goodbye” means farewell. Saying goodbye to someone you might see again tomorrow. Or someone you can see tomorrow, but you won’t. Or rather, someone you will never see again. And this is where to say goodbye, you have to understand that art is needed. The art of learning to let people go. The art of not turning back and being able to take a step forward. Without them.
However, the worst goodbyes aren’t the ones you say to the ones you love. It’s the ones you’ve never been able to tell anyone. Not even to yourself. They are the ones you wanted so badly to say but couldn’t, and the ones you didn’t want to happen at all. They are the ones you were forced to say too early or the ones you were too late to say and now no one is listening. It’s the final goodbye to a world that never ends.
The art of saying goodbye is not like the art of learning to say what you don’t want to say. Goodbye is something people have to say whether they like it or not. It is what makes them a point stronger, that takes them a step towards themselves. Saying goodbye is not an art that can be learned and left. Because goodbye will follow you forever. And when it comes to you, you should say it. That’s the deal. An agreement that if you don’t keep it, only you will lose. A deal that even if you keep, you will lose. It’s the deal none of us ever agreed to sign.
So the next time you have to say goodbye, don’t think too much, just say it. Say it even if it’s early, even if you see the other person again much sooner than you expected, even if you love them, even if you don’t want to. Because sometimes you have to say goodbye even if you’re not going anywhere.
References
- Η τέχνη τού να λες αντίο, animartists, . Available here
- H δύναμη τού να αφήνεις κάτι πίσω, infititis.gr . Available here
- H τέχνη τού αποχαιρετισμού, noosfera.gr. Available here
