Protect Your Sandcastle

Building takes a long time; breaking happens oh so quickly. We know this from childhood — after spending an hour building a magnificent sandcastle, we can flatten it in just a minute.

We could remember this when trying to build better relationships too. Whether with a family member or a partner, they are not a bank account where we can deposit ten euros — invest in the relationship — and then withdraw ten euros when the relationship gets hurt. No, no. That “cash withdrawal” always carries a high “transaction fee” that largely wipes out our earlier deposits. It is not worth it. Do not do it!

It is not a bad idea to imagine our relationships with loved ones as sandcastles. Large and beautiful, but very fragile... Just one wrong step among those towers, and the damage is always greater than we can repair in a few minutes. Always try to find time for the people close to you when they want to tell you something, for example. Yes, listening once may not make the relationship dramatically better, but every time we ignore them, the sandcastle takes a serious blow. Breaking simply has greater consequences than building. Do not break it.

We do not live in a perfect world, and sometimes it is almost inevitable that the sandcastle will suffer because of us... But then we should prepare ourselves: a ten-euro deposit will not fix it. We will need to do careful restoration work later. And if we truly want to build a better relationship, restoring it is not enough — the finished result should always be better than it was the week before. 😉