H is for Heartbreak by Keith Winn

Welcome to Unwritten's little corner of the the A-Z Blogging Challenge! If you want to see the whole lineup, click HERE!


It's day 8, and I'm tickled to welcome fellow Kentuckian Keith Winn to Unwritten. He's written a very touching piece on something many of us have experienced in some form or another in our lives. Can one ever really find true love after heartache? Read on to see what Keith has to say about it.

H is for...Heartbreak 

Heartbreak…we’ve all experienced it. That “end of the world” (I’m being melodramatic for effect of course) feeling that comes with losing the love of your life – or whom you thought was the love of your life. It was a little over a year ago that I experienced profound heartbreak. I only bring this up to segue into the point of this blog piece…which is to refrain from allowing past heartaches to jade us when it comes to love. Is that easier said than done?  Of course it is. I haven’t dated since but that’s only because I recently vowed to take some time to go on a journey of self-discovery prior to dating again. One thing I will not do is allow myself to be jaded though. If you allow yourself to be jaded…to close your heart to love…then love may very well never find you again.

There’s an old saying: “One day, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else”. Think about that for a second. In the midst of heartbreak we are unable to see past the immediacy of our hurt…we think things like “I’ll never feel this way about anyone else ever again”. I would venture to guess that there’s no one reading this blog piece that hasn’t, at one time or another, uttered those words to themselves after experiencing heartbreak.  It’s human nature…we all do it. What we don’t realize is that someday, whether it’s tomorrow, next month, next year, or 10 years from now – that person will walk into our life. That’s why it’s important to keep believing in love even when it’s hard to do so.

Some of you reading this may think that I’m being boyishly naïve…fair enough. However this is who I am and who I’ve always been. As an adolescent I remember absolutely falling in love with the story of “Romeo and Juliet” (we read it in 8th grade literature class) and I was absolutely captivated at the possibilities of a love that powerful, that meant-to-be, that magical. Now of course I knew it was fiction but I’ve always felt that life imitates art. That type of love does exist in real life; it's just that so few people are fortunate enough to experience it because they don’t allow themselves to believe in it. Quite simply, I believe that that type of love is more real than we allow ourselves to believe. There is a powerful song entitled "Entwined" by Jason Reeves. It's my favorite love song of all time. It really speaks to the amazingly powerful emotions of true, uninhibited love. Just imagine being able to experience, and to let yourself experience, something that is beyond description...something that so few people ever get to experience. How can one not believe in that?

There's something inescapably romantic about being a part of something greater than oneself...and I think that's the essence of what true love really is. It’s like taking a leap of faith...surrendering yourself to a power that is greater than anything known to us here on earth.  So if you’re someone who has recently experienced heartbreak…or even if the heartbreak has not been recent but is still affecting your belief in love, heed the words of the late writer Peter McWilliams: “It is a risk to love? Sure. After all, what if it doesn’t work out? Ah, but what if it does?”

****

I live in the tiny little paradise of Berea, KY. My two passions in life are animals and writing. I work as an admissions counselor and I am a graduate student at the University of Kentucky pursuing my Master's in Clinical Social Work. I may someday pursue my PhD. I believe in living life to the absolute fullest...every second of every day. I am a dreamer and I do not shy away from that label. I find that the key to a happy life is to live life with the enthusiasm of a child. I have always used writing as a way to express my inner-dreamer...it's a wonderful outlet.  I enjoy challenging myself intellectually and I find that there are few ways better to do that than by writing. My philosphy in regards to happiness boils down to three things: life, in laughter, and love.

Blog: http://keithawynn2011.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/keithawynn