Limitless Monday – Not just milk has an expiry date

It is not just food that has an expiry date, it turns out that relationships too can expire.

That thought first occurred to me while watching an episode of Two and Half Men a few years ago. The comedy show stars Charlie Sheen, who plays the womanizing drunk called Charlie who lives with his penniless loser brother Alan and his son Jake. Alan, to the horror of his family, starts to date someone who can only be described as a skank. At a family dinner hosted at the woman’s cramped apartment,  her estranged Mexican husband returns home. The loose woman embraces Jose while Charlie looks at Alan and says, “Your relationship has run its natural course.” Alan stands to toast the happy couple realizing his lucky escape.

I believe that most relationships we embark on have an expiry date. Obviously the idea is to find a partner who has no shelf life. Unfortunately, many of us choose to settle. Eventually one of the parties reaches the end of their tolerance for the many red flags they identified at the beginning of their relationship but chose to ignore because they were either desperate or the relationship was convenient.

Every one of my previous relationships, except possibly my ex-wife, had an expiry date which I recognized from an early stage. With my ex-wife, I realized there was an impending shelf life as the marriage progressed.

I had a girlfriend once. I knew from day one she had an expiry date. A short one. When the relationship ended after a few months I told her that I didn’t have much time to see her anymore, my jiu-jitsu took priority I told her. She told me that she had thought that we would be together until the end. Poor deluded soul.

Most of our relationships throughout our lives will have an end date whether we realize it or not. It’s no bad thing as we are the sum of all the people we meet throughout our lives. When we eventually meet our ideal partner, the love of our lives, there is less likely to be an expiry date helped by the many lessons we have learned from the other relationships that ran their natural course. At the end of the day we should all be on the lookout for that one special person where you cannot see it running its natural course. That is why you must never settle.

Happy Monday!

Banner Image: Expired relationships. Image Credit – nhuhang9261