Friday, January 16, 2009

Heartache

At 32 years old, I have found that life will throw you a lot of curveballs. Yet, some of the hardest to overcome are the disappointments in love.

As a child I believed in the Cinderella story. I thought that Prince Charming would sweep this princess off my feet. I was hopeful that love would be magnificant and I would live happily ever after. As a teenager, I was in love with the idea of true love. I still believed that it would find me if I was just patient and let it arrive. As an adult, I learned that true love is what hurts the most. It can break a person and change his/her life forever.

I have heard the saying that you cannot die from a broken heart. While I believe that is true, I think that a part of you can die with a broken relationship. No matter how someone deals with a break up, that relationship and all it's aftermath will change him/her. Everyone deals with the loss of love differently. I have recently realized that I have become jaded and bitter in matters of the heart.

While I may be bitter, I realize that the bitterness may fade in time. When I am ready to allow love back in, I will. I also recognize that while love can be painful, it's impossible to run away from it. If your heart hurts, it will hurt no matter where your location. The only way to move on is to reconcile those feelings.

Love is a funny thing. It can be glorious and gut-wrenchingly painful as well. Regardless, if you have ever been in love or are currently in love...you must admit that love changes each and every one of us in it's own unique way. For better or worse, love has shaped who I am today.