Giving up is not something I am good at, I have a warrior spirit and I will fight for what I think is right, for what I think is important. I generally follow my gut instinct when it comes to making decisions in life, if something doesn't feel right then I don't do it. But what about when it is something that you have been doing for a long time. We change all the time, I am not the person I was last year, and my desires and needs change with that.

It has been almost a year since I broke up with my ex partner, the father of my children. Things had not been going well for us for quiet a while. But we were a family and I really wanted us to stay a family, even though I knew that things were not good. We had grown a part, but then who's to say we could not grow together again.

When two people come together, you need to work alongside one another, make compromises for one another, listen to one another and grow together. Both, need to feel heard and appreciated. Because we change and evolve all the time and if you can not accept the person you are with for who they are and for who they are becoming , then that relationship will start to fall apart.

It takes a lot of work, but with that work you have someone to share your life with, that in itself is something beautiful and sacred. Two people coming together from a place of love and working with one another to let that love grow and expand, alongside their own growth and expansion.

I so wanted that with my ex, that was the vision I had, but the reality was very different. Yet I held onto that vision and I continued to work towards it, until I just could not any more and we grew apart. A huge void grew between us and because of the different things that were happening in my life, I did not have the energy to try and improve or change it. I just stayed in that loveless relationship, trying to convince myself that it would work out, that I actually loved some one that I no longer did. I kept that vision of what I wanted foremost in my mind and ignored the reality that was right in front of me. I wanted a happy family for my girls, but in the end me and my partner were anything but happy.

So what made me give up on it?

In the end it was my partner that broke away, he started a relationship with a much younger woman whilst I was caring for my sister in Ireland. I knew in my heart that I should have given up on our relationship a long time before this, but I didn't, even though I knew I should have. I just kept visualizing what I wanted our relationship to be.

It's funny really, I write a lot about how important it is to be present, to live in the moment. I write this as much to remind myself as anybody else. Knowing something and then acting upon it, are two very different things indeed. Especially when it involves matters of the heart.

I have learnt so much and grown so much in this last year and in the end that is what it is all about! Keep learning, keep moving forward. Life is full of challenges and we all must do the best we can, but sometimes it is not so easy to just walk away. Especially when it is more than that just our hearts that are involved.

This is my response to theEcoTrain Question Of The Week , "How do you know when it is time to give up on something?". Make sure to check out some of the other responses posted under the ecotrain tag.