You Learn

This is about learning to live with the lacerating heartache that slowly emerges after you have thrown caution to the winds, let someone know that you are hopelessly in love with them, and then had to swallow that “jagged little pill.” At first, you may even think it feels good, swimming in your stomach; the ecstasy of your affection has deluded you into imagining it to be so powerful that you can handle even the eventuality of its not being powerfully requited. But you have yet to digest this pill. As the smoke clears and the dust settles, you realize you have in fact bitten off far more than you can chew emotionally. If you had not stuck your foot in your mouth, maybe you wouldn’t be feeling like your heart has been trampled underfoot. As it is, you’re stuck with this anguished longing and heartache, together with the sure knowledge that it is NOT reciprocated. Eventually, you’re going to have to melt it down, even though right now you can’t imagine how. Maybe you’ll just have to wear it out, the way a young child wears out a toy she is currently obsessed with. Meanwhile, your lack of caution has left you completely exposed to reality’s cold winds and the harsh sunlight. The fire-truck lights are flashing, the sirens blaring, and now it’s obvious to everyone that your emotional house is on fire. Who knows whether even they can douse the blaze, before the house burns down? Well, you live, you learn…