Last week, I cut ties with my dad. We cut ties with each other. Too much fundamental misalignment. Too much trauma. It was 30+ years in the making, and obviously a huge deal.

I’ve always been someone who deals with stuff alone, but this time, I tried something different. I told my girl friends, but I’d preface it with “I’m gonna share this, but I’m not ready to hear ‘he’s your dad’ or ‘he’s old’ or ‘he won’t live forever.’ I just need someone to listen, and to tell me I did the right thing for me.” Being able to communicate exactly what I needed meant I didn’t hear advice I wasn’t ready for. I’ll need to hear the pep talk version at some point, but not this week.