The face of a dead romance

There is no pill for forgetting a broken romance. It is more difficult to handle because even if you sense it, it still is a wreckage once it happens. And when finality is decided, you bleed with the severity of the emotional torture that crumples your chest even to your sleep.

This is the hardest lesson 2024 has taught me: returning the person I adored for almost two years to a world that is not in my purview anymore. Along with the heart-blasting act is the admission that love was never enough. The outpouring of desires for connection will never stop incompatibility from popping the bubble.

I hold on to the hope of tomorrow. Like all the past heartbreaks and disappointments I thought would define me, the future will blossom with surprises. But right now, I have this pain to sit with while I do the most mundane.

I lost someone with whom I share my frustrations about the intricacies of life and the absurdness of people. I take meals and coffee breaks without the routine updates that warmed me in rainy weather. I describe the departing as unlearning the old habits I built for years.

Lessons from my current reads and podcasts tell me there is no easy escape from the death of a romance. There are quick remedies involving distracting yourself by pursuing other activities and people. But after all the red lights turn black and your friends go home, you confront the reality weighing you down, point blank. You have to face it because it resides within.

To sum up my takeaways from countless motivational speakers or books written ages ago, there is no other way to overcome heartbreak, but through it. Facing the pain involves acknowledging that the connection died. Akin to how good or bad books and music end, our story reached its conclusion.

In my reflections, I gained beautiful memories I am grateful for, especially the perspectives of how it feels to be in the clouds and closer to the moon. But I also learned I gave away too much for the connection to last until the magic faded. It was good for what it was worth at the time. And it is best to leave it that way.

But the catch about letting it fly like July is actively overlapping the old memories with your version. Romanticizing your life again, for yourself this time, is key to moving on and progressing as one should.

The face of a dead romance is confusion, bargaining, madness, acceptance, and redemption. It is a wavy process. But you believe that there is more to life than this. And for that, you live again.