They say (whoever ‘they’ are) that the people you meet on the way up are the same people you meet on the way back down.
The conventional wisdom is that; as you progress through life and your career, and as you go from job to job (if working for other people is your jam), and promotion to promotion (hopefully), you’ll meet and work with a whole bunch of people. Eventually, some of you might reach the peak; the role with the highest pay, the most responsibility you’ll have in your career.
As you get older, and you start to wind down, such a role might not be sustainable, and you might move into roles with less responsibility, but with less stress. It’s here that you might meet some of the same people you worked with in the past, while you were on you way up.
Therefore, the conventional wisdom is that, as you move through life, you should aim to preserve your relationships. When you part ways with someone or some people or some company, you should do so on good terms.
Don’t burn your bridges.
Whether that conventional wisdom is true for all, I’m not so sure. It’s not really about whether you’re going ‘up’ or ‘down’. It’s about what and who you might need in future.
Whatever you’re trying to accomplish, wherever you’re trying to get to, you’ll likely need other people to get there.
You’ll need other people’s talents, dedication, time and energy. The more relationships you have, and the more bridges you keep, the more people you’ll have to call upon later.
The aim should be to meet as many new people and build as many new relationships as you can so that, over time, you have a network of talent, perspectives and energy that you can tap into later.
Also, not burning bridges in just genuinely a better way of being human. Why would you ever want to end something on bad terms?