Is there any way to solve this situation without hurting someone?

Question

I lived with my ex for a year and we had been apart for around 4 months. While we were apart I started seeing someone I met at work - one of the owner's of the company I work for. I care a lot about the one I am seeing now but my ex recently came back into the picture wanting to work things out. I feel very strongly about my ex and would love to work it out with him but I do not want to hurt the man I am seeing now and also create an akward work environment. We work together a lot throughout the day so this situation has to be handled delicately because my job is very important to me.

Any advice?

I know I need to be fair to both of them which is why I feel the need to make a choice. If my choice is the ex, how do I handle letting the current guy go?

Answer 1

In a word, nope. Then again, probably not.
Believe it or not, being "hurt" is not the responsibility of the person doing the supposedly "hurtful" action, but the person who expresses the emotion of being hurt. As Eleanor Roosevelt said, "No one can make me unhappy without my permission."
Which is to say, if he chooses to be hurt by your decision, that's up to him. There's nothing you can do or say that will guarantee no pain for anyone. As Muhammed Ali said, "In this world, there are people who will be offended if you breathe wrong."
The safest thing I've ever done is what's right. That way, there are no regrets. Do anything else, and... well, it wasn't right.