Loss, heartbreak, heartache, adversity--call it what you will, but each one of us has to deal with pain in our lives. It's that sharp tinge where something goes wrong--and often times, there's not very much we can do to take it away except for letting it run its course. It's an essential part of human life that, as emotional creatures, we can not avoid, no matter how much we might want to deny it.
I know that we all think that pain is miserable. And, well, it is--no one willingly wants to go through it because it sucks. But what I think what we fail to realize is that pain is actually the root of where we can find happiness, the start of something fresh, and something about ourselves. Whether we've gone through the loss of a loved one, a tough break up, or a failure at work or school, it forces us to change in some way or another.
The biggest moments in my life have been the ones where I've lost something or been wounded, the moments where I have been forced to critically evaluate who I am and what direction my life is going in. If I never faced heartbreak, or made the wrong decision, I would never change. And the truth is, you cannot go through life without changing and adapting. I have to credit the sense of pain and loss for leading me to feel full again--it's only when I haven't felt whole that I've gone looking for the pieces to rebuild the person that I aspire to be. That sense of loss can inspire you to reinvent yourself completely, and the motivation to keep making yourself better is important.
Pain is what makes the happiness we get to experience in life worth it. If we were constantly happy, and constantly got what we wanted, we wouldn't appreciate it at all. At the end of the day, we know that the pain we go through and the sacrifices that we make will be rewarded, because there are better, happier moments ahead. If we didn't have an array of emotions, we'd be like zombies, never really getting to feel anything. Take a second to think about how boring and pointless that would be.
Mostly though, what pain forces upon us is that you really can't ever take anything for granted. When you lose a job, a person, or your first love, it's inevitable that your life isn't going to be the same. But this just serves to show us that life is fleeting, and we really do need to appreciate what we have. The "you don't know what you have until it's gone" cliché is over-used, but true. We too often complain about our jobs, our loved ones, and our lives, but what we fail to realize is that in most cases, we actually have it really freaking good. That isn't something we should take lightly.
I'm not telling you to jump for joy the next time you get dumped, or that you need to smile at every funeral you go to, or always play the polite card when someone hurts you. I'm just saying that in these moments of vulnerability, you can actually find a lot more strength than you think you might have, and that's a really important thing to remember and carry with you each and every day.
