Heartbreak, I think, is an interesting thing that is both a terrible curse and a blessing. It’s a lot like the concept of one’s incoming death or the incoming death of a loved one. It serves as a powerful impetus for change.
Change is such a necessary thing in the world, whether it is viewed from the lens of the greater world or simply inner change. It is perhaps the most important thing in the entire universe. With no change, everything would be at a standstill.
But, you know, heartbreak totally just sucks. It hits you like a knife to the gut and it drains you of all your energy for a time. It makes you go crazy with anger. It makes you bargain like you never thought you would. It makes you a completely different person for awhile. It makes you unrecognisable for awhile. It’s the worst.
Then it leads to something wonderful, which is self-healing. You begin to understand that you don’t need that person or thing that broke your heart. In some people, it spurs a creative flow that leads to great work. In some, it leads to a realisation of why your heart was broken in the first place. Most of the time, it finally allows you to see clearly and understand that it was because of your own insecurities or problems within yourself.
Then it leads to something even better, which is self-change. After the pain of heartbreak and the stark realisation that the buck starts and stops with you, you begin to experience inner change. Sometimes this takes awhile. But once you arrive at that moment of devoting yourself to change, magical things can happen.
Self-change can lead to a change in the world in many cases. There is an old adage that great art is more often created from pain and misery - emotions caused by the things that we lack - rather than from positive emotions caused by the things that we have. So it’s ironic that perhaps the most common emotion that tends to produce great change and art - heartbreak - is also the most painful and the one we most want to avoid. It’s produced wonderful music, films, operas, paintings, photographs, even consumer products. Without the broken heart to serve as a necessary impetus to create, a lot of the things we take for granted would not exist.
Heartbreak is all about the journey making and shaping the destination. Oh, but what a terrible journey it can be.