If you’re like a lot of people, you probably left your 20s with quite a few bridges in flames behind you.
As a teenager, I’d say all sorts of nasty things to my parents. We all did. We’d tell them we hated them. We’d tell them they were stupid. Luckily, they’re parents, and they won’t abandon you over being a typical bratty teen. But my mom would warn me not to say things like that to others – not to end things on a bad note. “Don’t burn bridges. You never know when you’ll need to cross one again.” I went into my twenties feeling fully justified in telling off bad bosses when I quit, not realizing I’d later need a reference. I said everything on my mind during friend breakups, not realizing that ex-friend may one day be the hiring party at a company I interviewed for. You just don’t know how life will play out, and you rarely get anything good from burning bridges. But you will often wish you hadn’t.
“This will be a very interesting lesson for your generation,” my mom said. “I think you’ve felt very safe—invincible—but my generation knows things can get ugly and nothing is ever really stable.” It’s a lesson I’m not necessarily happy to learn, but have learned nonetheless due to COVID-19.
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