"Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all." ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Love.
A bitter-sweet word that each and every one of us carries our own meanings for. Love is defined as a deep bond or connection, but when someone feels "love", well, there's no explaining it. It's personal, yet international, horrid, and somehow astoundingly beautiful. Love is nothing, and everything.
I'm not old enough to say I've fallen in love before, but by golly, I think I've sure come close - most of us teenagers have. I opened up my heart, let someone inside, and told the majority of my experiences, my wants, my desires, and my dreams. I once was close to someone that I still believe is dear to me. I've felt the pain as my world slowly fell apart upon discovering that the one who gave his heart for me had given up everything for another. I've cried in my room, letting the tears of doubt, denial, and even relief fall to their doom on my pillow case. I've experienced the loss of someone I have to continue seeing for another three years, dodging glances in the school hallways as his arms wrap around my old friend.
Yes sir, there is nothing quite like love.
You know that old saying? Yeah, the one about it being better to lose love than never have it? For the longest time, I never believed that idea. I used to think that the pain of losing someone was too much to bare and that, overall, 'love' wasn't worth the trouble. Having to share your life with another person seemed daunting after my heart was broken. A lot of people probably agree with me here, but I'll tell you a secret.
That quote is right.
Loving someone and losing them may have been the greatest learning experience of my entire life, so far. Through all the pain and trembling, I became closer to my God, closer to my best friend, and eventually learned what it meant to move on. I kept telling myself that I loved him more than anything and that the pain was too much and all these other bogus ideas that make me feel silly now. I became overly obsessed with an imaginary story of how he would fall for me again and everything would be okay. I now know that it's okay to let go of someone close, because it means living life and not letting anyone block the visions you have for yourself. Letting go of someone doesn't mean erasing them from your memory, it means cherishing the memories from the past but allowing yourself to be happy again in the future. Knowing that I deserve to be happy is one of the main things that helped me move on past a fictional delusion and into the reality that there are other people out there who are willing to be there for me as well as others who do care about me.
See, the reason it's better to love someone and lose them is because you learn more that way than if you avoid the love entirely. The entire experience of losing someone has helped me to grow stronger, and will probably help me in the future if someone else decides to break my heart. Life is about making mistakes and learning from them. That learning makes the process easier, and eventually leads to a strong, confident person that you can be proud of. Getting through the worst times is the best victory. No one is going to congratulate you if you don't do something; so loving someone, even if it means losing them, is the greatest way to learn to overcome.
So, the next time you feel your heart being shattered, know that even though it hurts at the moment, bringing yourself to overcome the pain is well worth it to do a victory dance.
