How Emotional Is Terminating A Non-Romantic Relationship Really?

The termination of a relationship is usually very traumatic for either one or both parties involved in the termination. Our book, Interplay: The process of interpersonal communication, gives a definition of termination, “The conclusion of a relationship, characterized by the acknowledgment of one or both partners that the relationship is over.” (Adler, 383) When most people think of relationships they think strictly on a romantic level, being involved romantically with another person, but this is not the only kind of relationship. There are relationships between everyone and everything that you come in contact with, and there is usually termination amongst every type of relationship at some point.

One type of termination that happens often is that of a business relationship, where a firm or market is trying to get more clients, customers and consumers. The business relationship is one that is somewhat similar to that of a personal relationship, but instead of only truly affecting your emotions in termination it will affect other aspects, “such as your financial status, other business relationships and contracts that you are entering in or perhaps will consider entering into, etc.” (Blair, 1) Once a conflict arises between parties in a business relationship it is hard to find a compromise and it often ends up in one side suing the other because of a miscommunication or the probably is just to big to try and fix. Both sides end up calling in their lawyers and that costs both sides financially in lawyer fees and it also comes down to each side thinking of only themselves and not the fact that they are now in business together and this makes them partners. This is when differntating comes into play, “The individuals start to emphasize that they are independent people, separate from the relationship” (Blair, 5). Once this becomes a factor both sides get very defensive because they have put their guards up to protect from being damaged both financially, and emotionally. A business relationship can have just as much of an emotional termination as that of a romantic relationship does, it just comes in different forms. For a company to be financially affected is a major issue and it also could end up costing them more customers/cliental which can be emotionally damaging for those work in the company because it causes stress and is very discouraging.

Another non-romantic relationship is that of friendship, which is a relationship that involves have things in common with another person and being friendly with them. As a child termination of friendships happen often usually because of, “changes in the cognitive abilities and interests of the young child are a natural part of development, and any relationships at any age may end as friends develop in different directions or at different rates” (Foot, xxii). As a third grader I remember having a friend who’s name is Tiffany, we met the summer before in summer school and had the best times together. As we went into fifth grade though we had grown a part and each of us liked to do different things and I did not care for the other girls she was friends with so we inexplicably ended our friendship. It was hard for me because we had grown so close so fast but we no longer had anything in common and we went our separate ways and I have not spoken to her since elementary school. It was not a friendship that caused much emotional pain when it ended because I was so young but and there was no detrimental reason as to why our friendship ended. Now that I am older though, losing friends is much harder for me to cope with. As an adult your emotions are more vulnerable and more real then they are as a child, my best friends are still those that I met in high school, I have not really made too many friends as an adult because as Alan McGinnis explains in his book The Friendship Factor, we do not devote ourselves to relationships as adults like we did as children (21), he interviewed the “wife of a highly mobile executive explained, вЂ?We’ve discovered that to prevent the pain of saying good-bye we no longer say hello.вЂ™Ð²Ð‚Ñœ (McGinnis, 17) This is so very true though, most adults get so busy inn their own lives and then there are those who are constantly moving they feel it is a waste of time to get to know anyone because the emotional pain and let down of losing the friendship is too much to bear.

The biggest emotional termination as far as relationships are concerned I believe is that of termination in pregnancy, whether it be from abortion, miscarriage or a still birth. Whether it is a conscious decision to terminate the pregnancy or it happens abruptly there is going to be an immense amount of psychological and emotional effects on the mother because she has just rid of a living being that was growing inside of her. Anne Neville, a counselor for the National Association of Loss and Grief, says once you have conceived the physiological process has started and once you have found out you are pregnant the psychological process begins and there is already an immense amount of attachment to the child (Neville, 2). When dealing with the termination