People will leave. Because people change. Or desire for change. People grow and outgrow you. Or it’s the other way around. You’re the one who grew and people can’t take it.
It’s difficult to conclude that love is only love when you hold on to a person. Perhaps holding on when it isn’t right isn’t love anymore. Perhaps there is love when people finally fall apart. And give themselves the chance to see the better side of love.
So love and the ability to grieve are intertwined. To be ready to grieve for what “has to be lost” is love—for the people leaving and for oneself. To be ready to grieve is to prepare oneself to love again in a place where holding on might be easier, more fulfilling, more rewarding, more right.
To love is to be free and to set free.