Is There Life After Love?

Is there life after love? The person who has been stung by the hurt of love gone wrong will seriously doubt—mid-throe—that life might again, at some later stage, resemble anything like that which it was.

The question might be transformed; can life overcome love gone wrong?

Although it may be of some empty encouragement to those still ailing, so many millions of formerly love-struck people will answer that in the affirmative.

The Power of Love

Love, considered in all its myriad forms, is without doubt an infinitely powerful thing. Deep in the depths of this contorting emotion—the impossibility of recoiling from it—we’re turned from princes and princesses, satisfied in our desires, into villains even against ourselves. We are consumed by it.

When we are at the wrong end of life, love has become a pariah—from one extreme to the other we go.

The Purpose in Love Gone Wrong

This, again, threatens to be empty encouragement to those still ailing. But this is the truth. Life has changed so suddenly, and though we may have experienced it before (or not), the sharp twang of lament smacks us mid-face; we are left groggy and bewildered. There is a purpose and it’s found later on.

Months, though usually years, later the purpose is revealed. What began as our journey on the dark path of rejection concluded as the journey of self-discovery.

Self-discovery is life, and though it is a hairpin turn we wouldn’t take in a fit, our identities most usually catch up with the change. What was forced on us—the rejection in love’s name—drove us away from our core identity. We couldn’t see ourselves in this new light; it took a significant time to adjust.

But as we adjust we get to customise the formula that is given to us—that new set of circumstances. As we pull through the clouds of our despair, more control is derived, and in the light of new experience, we decide from a newly empowered platform.

Then, we see the purpose in this love that has gone wrong. What was perilous and downright unfair is now revealed as the making of us; the new ‘us’.

Then we learn that life is bigger than love. The eternal power of life surmounts the tumultuous momentousness of love. This power values love so much it patiently facilitates growth, respecting love’s power (that went wrong), using it as a springboard for growth and maturity.

The lesson of life over love is that difficulty cannot be avoided; it must be experienced so the dim pitch magnifies the meaning, so nothing good so far as learning is concerned is lost. This is hard but true.

In the moment of pain, try to be patient. Life does come after love.

Life after love prepares us for the next love—one seasoned with meaning amidst growth.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.