There’s a song by Morgan Wallen called Just In Case. In this song, Wallen sings about how although he doesn’t sleep alone every night, he’s still willing to get back together with his ex (or whoever he’s singing to).

Now, I’m not going to get into the nitty-gritty details of this song but I will say one thing: boys, don’t do this. And this doesn’t just go for guys either. Nobody should do this. What is ‘this,’ you ask?

According to the lyrics in song, he’s going and sleeping with women while still holding a place in his heart for that other woman, the woman he actually loved. (At least he says he loved her.) Here’s another example before I go into what I have to say about this.

In the popular show, Gilmore Girls, there’s the main character, Rory. In college, she has a boyfriend, Logan. After dating for a bit, they ‘take a break.’ And while Logan assumes it’s a breakup, Rory just assumes they just won’t see each other for a bit. When they get back together, Rory finds out from some other girls that Logan had slept with about four of them during his and Rory’s ‘break.’ Of course, Rory is furious—they had taken just a break. Not a break-up. But Logan had assumed it was a complete break-up. (Spoiler alert: they get back together, even after Logan screwed up. Rory wasn’t very smart in college.)

Anyways, the song Just In Case reminded me of this scene. Both Logan and the lyrics in Just In Case (I feel weird saying that it’s Morgan Wallen doing this even though it’s his song) jump at the opportunity to casually go around with other girls—despite their wishes to get back with their girl.

Now, both of these examples show one thing: these relationships were mainly based on physicality. (I don’t have a much better way to say that without it sounding weird…)

Okay. Getting back into real life. Guys—and girls—should not do this, obviously. Whatever your morals are, they should not align with these examples.

I’ve never been through a break-up because I am gloriously single. *Hair-flip*

But I do have friends who are in relationships–and I know that if any of my friends were treated this way by a guy (breaking up/taking a break, that guy running off to other girls, and then unashamedly coming back or wanting to get back together at the same time), then that guy would get beaten up by the girl squad. Nobody deserves to be cheated on and then manipulated into getting back together with that same dude.

Now, a relationship where one feels they have to run to another person for that same attention to make it through a breakup is a pretty empty one. It may seem as if the relationship is thriving, but if they truly respected and valued you and your relationship, they would do the following:

1. Give you space. If you’re just taking a break, you need to take a break. If you broke up, you need space to recuperate. It’s a big deal! It’s gonna hurt—so give each other space. Don’t push them to get back with you. There’s a reason you guys took a break.
2. Stay faithful. Now, if you guys broke up, then you broke up. They’re free to be with whoever they want—but if they still have feelings for you? That’s not being faithful to that new person. If you are taking a break—but not officially broken up—then they still need to be faithful to you. There is still a commitment, even if it’s a different commitment from when you were together. That current commitment would be the relationship and the promise you both made: we’re taking a break, we’re not officially over. We’re giving each other space.
3. And finally, they would ask how they can improve. And not just improve themselves, but the relationship. Obviously there were flaws to begin with—that’s what the break/break-up was for—so how can we fix this? How can we navigate it in a healthy way so that neither of us get hurt again?

Now, all these things don’t just go for romantic relationships. These things happen in friendships and family aspects as well! So it’s important to know when to pause or when to end it completely.

Kind of a random post with some random thoughts, but Just In Case‘s lyrics got on my nerves and I had a good bit to say on it, haha!

Thanks for reading, have a great day!
~Willow