LEARNING TO NAVIGATE TRUST AND DISAPPOINTMENT

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Promises are something people make every day, which some take seriously while others don't. A promise is when a person or a group of people gives words of assurance to another person or a set of people regarding a particular issue or circumstance. An example of this can be a case where a father gives his words of assurance to his son that he will take care of his financial needs until his death, or a case where a man gives his word to a woman to be with her until death do them part.

These promises are sometimes broken, resulting in heartbreak and sometimes trauma.
With this being said, I would like to share my experience with broken promises, promises I have broken, and a promise that someone gave to me and was unable to keep.

I recently broke up with my girlfriend, whom I once promised never to leave, no matter what. Before you judge me, I hope you will allow me to explain what led me to break my promise to her.
I love my girlfriend so much that I have also overlooked a lot of what she does. I will bear anything, but what I will not bear is when my partner goes out to double date. She was not even smart about it, and when she was caught, she didn't deny it but rather blamed me for something I didn't remember saying.

I know a lot of people reading this might say this is not a strong reason to break my promise to her, but my response to that is that my trust was broken, and I was left with no other choice but to also break my promise.

I was also promised by my cousin some time ago that he was going to pay my fees for my master's degree; that I should just apply and he would finance the program while I study. I was so excited about this development, as I really needed to further my studies, and I was also happy because I didn't have to ask before he offered. But what happened at the end of the day was that the promise he made was not kept. I wrote my first semester examination without paying for my fees, and I was about to write my second semester examination before he gave me part of the payment. It was sad for me because it was not that I asked him to do it; he was the one who offered to sponsor my study at the time. Thank God for a good friend of mine who felt pity for me at the time and gave me the rest of the money I needed to make the full payment for the fees.

As much as it is wrong to break promises, I believe that there could be valid reasons why people break their promises to others. This could include infidelity in marriage, loss of trust, and so on. Other reasons could result from a lack of capacity or ability to keep the promise. I could promise someone something, and when the time comes to fulfill my promise, I might not have the means to do so.

My advice to everyone reading this is: as much as you will want to make a promise to someone, make sure it is a promise that you can keep. It hurts so much when promises are broken, so we should try our possible best to avoid making promises that we cannot keep.

Thank you for reading. My name is @rishagamo, and this is my response to the Hive Learners weekly Featured Content Week 172 Episode 01: “A BROKEN PROMISE”.