The other day I was walking the busy streets of New York City. If you’ve ever traveled these streets you know how many signs are in competition to catch your eye. Of all the bright lights and advertisements, I was drawn immediately to a billboard that merely read: “IMPOSSIBLE.”   At first glance, I read the sign as most people would: “IMPOSSIBLE.” Almost immediate...

The other day I was walking the busy streets of New York City. If you’ve ever traveled these streets you know how many signs are in competition to catch your eye. Of all the bright lights and advertisements, I was drawn immediately to a billboard that merely read: “IMPOSSIBLE.”

At first glance, I read the sign as most people would: “IMPOSSIBLE.” Almost immediately as I read the message, my friend boldly shouted, “I’M POSSIBLE!” Taken aback, I asked her what provoked her exclamation in the middle of Time’s Square. She simply responded, “I was just reading that billboard over there.”

She was reading the same billboard I had just read to myself.

It was at that moment I realized that two people could experience the same moment and walk away from it with separate experiences. Such is life when experiencing a breakup. There is a moment - sometimes a very long moment - when one feels it's impossible to move on with life because he or she has become so accustomed to living life alongside another.

While we strive to be independent beings, relationships, by design, create a dependence on another whether we want to or not. Whether it be making plans to travel across the country or simply waiting to see what the other wants to do for dinner, we sacrifice a part of our independence for the sake of our other. The haze of a breakup clouds our senses and makes us feel immobile. How can I go about my day-to-day without you? Are we going to stay amicable? Will I find someone that gave me all that you did?

When we allow time to heal the sting of a breakup and pacification to prevail, the dark clouds of impossibility disperse and we start to feel another feeling: that it is possible to re-create ourselves and start anew. An end does not signify absolute destruction, but rather a fresh start. As stated in my last article, I strongly believe that people come into our lives at certain times for certain reasons.

So, take the time and let that great heart heal. You will feel impossible at times. That great sink in emotions is one of the ugly things in life that makes it ironically beautiful. But if we change our attitudes, and start seeing things a little differently, just like I had, you never know what the possibilities could be.

Take the space you need to recover, because, after all, the difference between “IMPOSSIBLE” and “IM POSSIBLE” is nothing more than a little space.