Try To Forget The Pain And Focus On The Lessons

Forget the heartbreak, focus on the wisdom you gained from it. The strength it gave you. The people it made you appreciate. The truth it uncovered. Focus on your heart and how it’s still brave, how it’s still willing to love and give even after it’s been broken. Focus on your hope and your willingness to try again no matter how many times you’ve failed.

Forget the failure, focus on the new opportunities it unfolded. The new doors that opened, the new talents you had to discover to find another way to live, the new mentality you had to adopt to survive. How you learned to believe in yourself again, how you learned to stand tall in front of those who belittled you and how you found where you truly belong or where you think you belong because of your mistakes or your failures. Often, the wrong decisions lead us to the right ones.

Forget the rejection, focus on the redirection. The better plans God had for you, the supportive people God brought into your life. The faith you now have in the universe that helps you let go of things that are not meant for you, the faith that helps you move on from the past and the faith that helps you let things be instead of forcing them to happen or trying to control everything in your life.

Forget the losses, focus on the substantial things you won. Maybe you found yourself, maybe you found your calling, maybe you realized you’re a lot more powerful than you think. Maybe you stopped being so obsessed with winning and started focusing on the journey. Maybe losing things taught you that nothing really lasts in life. Everything is temporary, including pain. Pain is temporary too.

But sometimes the beauty of life is only palpable after experiencing pain. Sometimes it takes pain to make us appreciate life, appreciate the good things we have and appreciate ourselves.

Pain is inevitable, we can never run away from it for too long but we can always take what it taught us and leave the hurt behind. We can take the lessons and forget the losses.

Rania Naim is a poet and author of the new book All The Words I Should Have Said, available here.