You can protect yourself from other drivers… to an extent. However, there are no absolutes. No matter how good you are at defending yourself from the actions of others, you can’t defend yourself perfectly.
The same is true in relationships. This is a tough one to accept because it feels even more unfair. No matter how good you are at protecting yourself from others’ actions, words and behaviors (or lack thereof), you can’t defend yourself perfectly.
Even the best defensive drivers, who do all the “right” things, get hurt. Relationships can be messy and painful – what’s really challenging is when both parties aren’t aware that there’s even been an accident at all. When you’ve done all the right things, said all right stuff, made all the right decisions but still get burned… that’s called a relational hit and run. It gets more sticky when the other “driver” doesn’t even know what they just did. Awareness is undervalued is today’s society but it could help keep a lot of relational roads safe.
