Sometimes it’s the broken heart that finds the truest path to love.
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Thank you for breaking my heart.
Thank you for not believing in my dream. For calling it “a hobby.” Thank you for forbidding me to build a jewelry studio and calling my ideas “unrealistic.” It forced me to dream a little harder and my business is stronger for my dreams and for your dismissal of them.
Thank you for making horrible comments about my body. For calling me fat. For making rude remarks about certain parts of my anatomy. It forced me to fall in love with every curve, crevice and bump attached to this soul and my body and soul are more in tune and in love with each other than ever.
But most of all, thank you for not believing in forever.
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Thank you for trying to control me. For doing your best to put me in a box. For treating me like a trophy or some type of arm candy. It forced me to know my worth and stand proudly on my own two feet and I stand tall and proud when I once would have sat quietly in the corner.
Thank you for being emotionally unavailable and cold. For being thoughtless and uncaring. For sometimes just being cruel. It forced me to strive for emotional sobriety, to work hard on myself and to have compassion for those who are suffering like yourself. Today I am more the person I wanted to be than I ever believed was possible.
Thank you for being generous and telling me to keep the ring when I couldn’t keep your heart. It forced me to examine what a ring really means, and that is an important thing for a custom engagement ring designer to understand. Did you know that in India they believe that the energy of a piece of jewelry is stored in the stone? I freed that stone from its setting and released the tidal wave of tears from my heart. And my compassion for lovers, and my joy for my clients is now without boundaries because of the understanding I received as those tears washed my heart clean of bitterness and regret.
But most of all, thank you for not believing in forever. Because you see I took that diamond and I gave it to one of my best friends so that he could propose to his love. So that they could start a happy, solid marriage built on mutual trust and respect. So that I could have their example to watch for the rest of time.
I may never find true love again, but it doesn’t matter. Because I was forced to learn to love myself.
And that’s the most romantic love story of all.
Want more from Jacqueline Stone? Read “5 Questions You Need to Answer Before You Offer Me a Ring” and more here.
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Amazing! You learn how to love yourself so that you can love everyone in the world.
Thanks that man who support your inner growth 🙂
I used to be very angry and hate myself. Now i know through beautiful healing ceremonies and angels that come my path that I am freed from a life of bullshit, from being fake, lies, deceit, sucking up and insecurity and I am free to be me. Thank you for posting this.
What do you mean by healing ceremonies?
Nice article! Wow, learning to love and depend on ourselves in a life long journey and usually found through a rubble mess. Glad you came out able to stand tall and dust yourself off. Great example for all of us.
Jacqueline, Strikes a chord with me. I might say to my ex-wife: “Thanks for the gun you had hidden under your pillow. Thanks for threatening to kill me when your rages boiled over. Thanks for letting me know that men aren’t the only abusers. Thanks for pushing me to the edge of violence. Thanks for letting me know the fear that so many women experience living with an abusive husband. Thanks for threatening the core of my being so I knew, absolutely, that I’d be willing to die than to continue living that way. Thanks for helping me create a… Read more »
Thank you, Jacqueline for your courageous piece. And thank you Jed for the reminder that one need not be female to suffer the effects of abuse.
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! Thank you for courageously writing about your experience with this man, as well as stating that you still have compassion for him and those like him…Your article really spoke to me because I was in a relationship for two years with a man who made me feel this way, too…Congratulations on also having found your passion in life, sister! I’ll bet your jewelry is gorgeous! You conclude that you might never find true love again, but with your newfound growth, I’m sure you will. Kudos, and thank you again. ?
Kris, what a beautiful message to receive! Thank you for having faith that I will find true love again. I hope that to be true! Even if it doesn’t, I’ve grown so much from this experience and I have so much joy and love in my life today that I never knew was possible. I wish you well on your own love evolution. May you find everything you’ve been looking for and more.
Hey fellow G Dubber! Thank you for writing this, I needed to read every single word today. Your words lifted me up.
Thank you Michelle! I’m so happy that it helped you. That is the biggest gift I could of asked for today. By sharing our vulnerabilities we start to realize we aren’t so alone after all. It’s been powerful to see how many can relate to my story and how they, like yourself, are on their own powerful journey. Keep going!
Thank you Mark! I like your interpretation of my article. I don’t think I’m better off without a man, but I needed to learn how to love myself from the inside out before I could open myself again to the possibility of love.
I. Love. This. Post.
Yes to more women telling men they’re better off without them.
It’s the only way we’ll change.
Thank you for speaking the truth.
Carmen, I’m so happy that it spoke to you! Heartbreak is universal, but not much of us talk about it. I’m glad that you found self love as I did. Keep that love close. It’s the most powerful kind. Thank you for sharing your experience!
Brillant and gripping article!
I have lived an experience like that. At first my thoughts were like: I could not
Live without him, I am the problem etc.
But I understood that my first priority of my was being un love of myself.
Thank you for sharing your story.
Regards!