Meeting limitations

Why do people who make each other unhappy to a frightening degree stay together? Is it a matter of pride or principle? Are we afraid of shame? When is it okay to say this is enough and walk out? Or can we even admit it to ourselves that the person we are with is the one making us miserable? And even if the case may be that we are able to admit it, will we find the strength for leaving? Where does love start and where does it end? How do you know when it has ended and turned into a life sucking feeling making you long for something else? And what we so often long for is our self. You crave to be the one you had the potential to be before you slipped from your path and did what so many have done before you and will do after you. One morning you wake up and realise you have grown-up children with lives of their own. And they are not yours.