Never cut what you can untie.

Cutting is fast and final, while untying is slow and leaves the rope whole. Much of what you are tempted to sever, a job, a friendship, a long-running argument, could instead be loosened knot by knot, and the patience usually costs less than the damage would. Speed can feel like decisiveness in the moment when it is really the wish to stop feeling the difficulty.

Before you end something, ask what the smaller, reversible version of the same move would be. A hard conversation instead of silence. A reduced commitment instead of a resignation. Save the blade for what truly will not come loose.