“Stab the body and it heals, but injure the heart and the wound lasts a lifetime.” - Mineko Iwasaki

We have all been there at some point in time. The countless hours of sitting up all night wondering what you did wrong and why someone would want to just throw your love away without any warning or consideration of what kind of effect it would have upon you. For many people, it can happen early in middle school or even high school. For others, it will happen later in life, but it is bound to happen to you sometime. It becomes a learning experience for many of us; we learn to forgive, to forget and to grow stronger from the heartbreak we sadly faced.

If you take a look back, I'm sure you'll think of someone you deeply cared for, even loved if you may, and then they broke your heart into millions of pieces. All the memories you had shared become meaningless to them and you're left to deal with it on your own. I want you to know that this isn't your fault, it is a part of life. Without heartbreak, there is no way to learn from our mistakes. Without learning, we won't be ready when Mr./Mrs. Right comes along. Whether or not you take the experience of getting your heart broken into consideration when you go out and look for someone to bring you back the happiness you once had, is your own choice, but just know that it is available to you.

I can remember my first heartbreak like it was just yesterday. I had just gotten the girl that I had the biggest crush on to go out with me and I couldn't have been happier. All the months of waiting and doing everything I could to show her I was worth a shot had finally paid of, or so I had thought. What would come later, was something that my 15-year-old brain wasn't ready for. Nothing could have prepared me for what was going to happen next.

A couple weeks passed by and then I could tell that things were starting to go downhill. The conversations became less and less about how much we cared for each other and more and more about whatever we were going to argue about. We became very distant to each other and I knew that she was getting tired of the same old boring routine we would go through. She wanted something better, she wanted attention and all of mine just wasn't enough. Eventually, I got that text, "We need to break up." Such a short sentence can have such a long term effect on someone. It can shake your whole entire world and it did mine. The girl that I had fallen for and the girl that just left me, were two different people now. She had changed from who I thought she was and I finally saw through her shell. I spent the next few days feeling like nothing was going right. I was angry at everyone, mostly myself, and I just let it take me to one of the lowest points in my life.

The days and weeks passed by, but nothing was able to make me feel the way I wanted to feel. I felt like the whole world had turned against me and that I would never find a source of happiness again. It got to the point where I turned my back on many of those who wished to reach out and help me, but I let my emotions overrule my better judgement.

I began to see that I wasn't hurting over her anymore, but just the thought of it. It was in the back of my mind and I couldn't seem to shake it. I needed something to take my mind off of the pain that had been caused. That's when I turned to my friends. I began to let them back in and let them be there for me like they had originally wanted to be. They helped me enjoy myself again, they brought the fun back into my life.

I learned that heartbreak is bound to happen to us, it will help shape us into better individuals. We need to learn to forget the pain and grow from it. We need to take the time to realize that if they broke your heart now, you will have the time to learn from it. You will learn what it takes to be happy and what you really want in life when it comes to finding the right person.

You will not always get the significant other you dream of; it isn't always as easy as the movies and television make it seem. I am not saying that you won't get your dream girl or your prince charming, I'm saying it will take time to find the one that is truly right for you. You may go through one or two heartbreaks along the way, but the pay off in the end is worth all the pain that you went through. Finding the one that truly accepts you for you and loves you for you, is worth the wait and the pain.