I loved my partner but I also had larger goals I wanted to accomplish in my career and at a certain point, I had to choose whether to sacrifice my professional ambition with my personal relationship. I chose my job over love and surprisingly I don’t regret it.
- I told him about my work ethic and passion before we even got together. I was dedicating most of my time to my career when we got together and I was unapologetic about it. It’s not that I didn’t care about his feelings of neglect, but I made it very clear before we pursued the relationship that my time was scarce and my professional passion was at an all-time high.
- I gave him as much of my time and attention as I could but it still wasn’t enough. I cleared as much time in my hectic schedule as I could for my partner, but at the same time, I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my work productivity for the sake of the relationship. I was always trying to find a healthy balance, I really was, but in the end, he wasn’t happy with how little time he felt he was getting in comparison to my job.
- My motivations weren’t entirely selfish—I have a daughter to provide for. As much as I enjoyed being with him, I wouldn’t jeopardize the ability to provide for my daughter or myself financially even for a good relationship. If I’d really considered him to be “The One,” I might have felt differently, but the way he constantly found a way to make my career an issue, the more I knew that wasn’t the case. I’m a true believer that what’s meant to be will be, so I had to weigh the pros and cons of the situation and at the end of the day, my the importance of my career far outweighed my relationship.
- The struggles of my relationship were killing my creativity. We started to disagree on a lot of things because we weren’t on the same page. This literally killed me creatively, and I need my creativity to thrive! When I started feeling so stressed that my productivity suffered, I knew something needed to change. I believe that you have to learn to communicate your issues effectively in order to find reasonable solutions in life. I tried to talk to my ex about it, but he wasn’t receptive. He couldn’t see that the awful state of our relationship was causing me to go into a creative block, which in turn was putting my career at risk.
- I worked hard to get where I am—why should I give that up? I’ll be damned if I throw away the years of blood, sweat, wine, and tears that it took me to reach the level of success I’m at now. It might sound harsh, but I really can’t think of too many things worth giving up on my career for, especially not a guy. I wanted to be with someone who understood what it took me to get where I am and more importantly, who was supportive of my future potential. I wanted someone to push me towards limitless greatness, not someone who thought I made it far enough to be satisfied.
- My career made me happier than my relationship. I will say that in the early stages of our relationship, things were great and I was really happy to be with such a good guy. The truth of the matter was that I needed to be with someone who is used to being with a career-driven woman. I needed someone who could understand and appreciate the time and dedication it took for me to achieve my dreams and goals. I needed someone who could understand that I have to invest the time and energy now so that I can spend time doing whatever I want later in life. When I realized he didn’t get that, I lost my desire to be with him.
- My career comes with guarantees; my relationship didn’t. At the end of the day, I can’t push my passion or my career to the side for a man who isn’t sure if he’s going to spend his life with me or not. That might sound crazy to some, but I know what I want out of life and I won’t compromise that. I owe it to myself to work hard for everything I want in life, but that means I have to prioritize. Being a boyfriend doesn’t get you the same privileges that being a fiancé or husband will. That’s just a fact.
