Why It's Better To Love And Hurt Than Feel Nothing At All
I may allow myself to get hurt, but I’d rather get hurt than feel absolutely nothing.
getty By Beth Cormack
Too often, we define our lives by our disappointments. Our failed attempts to control things that simply can’t be controlled. Our emotions, our heartbreaks, our “you’re not good enough” stories.
Too often we place the world on our shoulders, attempting to solve problems that simply can’t be solved at the moment, or ever. We feel, and we feel deeply.
Our emotions are both a blessing and a curse. We love with every ounce of our fragile hearts, expecting the best outcomes, only to have our expectations fall short.
We want to change people. We want to change how they feel, how they act. We want to feel like we are worth it. We want to feel wanted.
To my readers: I have felt the way you feel, I have cried the tears you cry. I have defined myself based on the thoughts of others, based on the people who have seemed to take more than they give.
I lose a little bit of myself each time I take that leap of faith, each time I allow my heart and my mind to fall vulnerable to the glimmer of hope I see in others. I tell myself, “Never again.”
I promise myself that this will be the last time I define myself based on how you see me. I promise myself that I’m worth it, even if I’m not worth it to you.
I came to a point in my life where I started asking, “Why is the world out to get me?” Bad luck seemed to be embedded into the shadows I crossed, and I was slowly loosening the grip on the things that I held onto so firmly.
I started to loosen the grip on things that I truly cared about. It was like my sensitivity was something to be ashamed of; it was something that only led to tears and let downs.
The world wasn’t out to get me — I was out to get myself.
People are always going to disappoint you. Life is always going to tell you that “you’re not good enough.” Don’t lose hope. Don’t stop taking that leap of faith.
Some people say that feeling so deeply is simply a curse, but I’d have to disagree. I feel deeper than most, and maybe I have more failed relationships than you do, but I’ve come to realize that my life is so much more than that.
My life is more than drunk texts and missed connections. It’s more than s****y people and failed expectations.
I’ve learned how to feel with every ounce of my body. With every inch of my skin. And it’s led me to perhaps some of the most rewarding experiences and friendships that wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t put myself out there.
My sensitivity is something that I’ve always tried to hide. I have constantly tried to hide my emotions so far down in the basement of my heart, but I realized doing that only makes me forget who I am. It sends me into an abyss of nothingness, with no set destination.
I may allow myself to get hurt, but I’d rather get hurt than feel absolutely nothing. I’d rather cry a thousand times than miss out on a single day of true happiness.
Feel deeply; keep taking that leap of faith. Keep putting yourself out there and accept that you will probably get hurt a few more times.
You can store your emotions in a black box in the basement of your heart, or you can let yourself be vulnerable. It’s how you fall in love. It’s how you feel. It’s how you understand yourself. It’s how you’re supposed to live.
You’re not “stupid” for expecting the best out of people. You’re not “naive” for having a hopeless romantic heart. You’re not “pathetic” for expecting something to come out of what was nothing to him.
You feel, and that is perhaps the greatest and most powerful gift life could give you. Embrace it.
Pain is inevitable, but so is happiness.
Beth Cormack is a writer and co-founder of Your City Is Blind. She has been featured in the Washingtonian, Washington Post, NYTimes, and other various publications. Visit her blog for more.