Have you ever been in a relationship that’s ended? My guess is that your answer is yes. If so, congratulations. When relationships complete their natural life cycle, the appropriate thing for them to do is end. Well done.

All relationships have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Understanding the stages that relationships traverse throughout their life cycles can help you make sense of why relationships end when they end, how not to skip steps, and how to appreciate and enjoy the stage you’re in.

About the Author

Steve Bearman, Ph.D., earned his doctorate in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He founded Interchange Counseling Institute in 2002 and is the lead teacher of Interchange's San Francisco-based year-long counseling and coaching training. When he's not counseling people, leading workshops, and advocating for social justice, Steve climbs mountains, adventures in the urban wilderness, explores the edges and limits of what's possible, deconstructs everything, and finds new ways to put it all back together.