Shooting rubberbands at the stars and other somewhat arbitrary conjectures. 


First things first, I must give credit to Edie Brickell for the blatant plagiarism of the words "shooting rubberbands at the stars." Or maybe I should be apologizing rather than thanking. Or actually, since I've effectively just cited what I stole from her, maybe I shouldn't say anything to her at all. But then this paragraph is useless. But if I delete it, I would once again be guilty of plagiarism. Conundrum. 


But on to the real content.


While I generally spend a considerable amount of time and effort in my writing trying to ensure that the material is organized and flows well, this is a much more jumbled mess because my method for this blog was simply taking a bunch of short notes periodically throughout a couple of long nights worth of house work. I was also in a different state of mind when I began writing this, so the underlying theme may seem to be a little bit erratic. There is, however, at least one advantage to this method; because I didn't extensively elaborate on any single topic, it will provide me with numerous ideas that I can expound on in the future.


Okay, once again, now on to the real content. But seriously this time. 


I've been a long believer in the theory that as we go through our lives our personalities and character are shaped by the sum of all the different experiences that we go through. We are a product of our mistakes—at least the ones that we we smart enough to learn a lesson from—and every adventure, exploit, and tragedies that we encounter on our journey from sperm cell to worm hotel ; from womb to tomb. 


By the same token, I believe that as we go through our lives in series of relationships gaining love and losing love, we leave pieces of our heart along the way. Sometimes people get so bitter and jaded from continual heartbreak that they eventually get to the point where they either give up on love, or they begin to treat their partners with less than everything they have. 


I've been at that point many times in my life where the pain and suffering made it seem like it wasn't worth it, and I began to build a wall around my heart. I've actually been there for extremely long periods a couple of time. I mean like a couple of years. But each time, I've learned that the over-used platitude about being better to lose love than to never have it at all. 


The human body is an amazing thing. Just think about when you cut yourself or when you have a really bad skinned knee. Depending on the severity, your body eventually heals itself. And it may not be exactly the same as before (i.e. there may be a scar), but it's usually pretty darn close.


 I think that in most circumstances, your heart works the same way. It may get broken repeatedly, and it likely hurts like hell. But your heart will ultimately heal—you just have to be willing to let it. 


If you believe in the adage that life isn't measure by the number of mistakes you make, but instead by the lessons you learn from your mistakes, then in a certain sense, you can apply that concept here as well. It's not about the heartbreak, but about what you learn from experience. It's all about bouncing back from the pain and trying to refrain from apathy and doing everything you can to be the best person you possibly can. 


When in a painful situation or when dealing with the pain of a breakup, just remember, things could always be worse. And I know we've all been told that when we were hurting and thought it was a load of BS because we don't understand how things could be any worse. But eventually, our heart begins to recover and our brains then realize the truth in that statement. 


The quality of our lives and every aspect of it has a tremendous amount to do with our perception. I actually have a ton of pages of material I could write on that subject, but for now I'll just make it brief. 


There really is something to the whole half glass full versus half glass empty debate. There is a unique power inherent to positive thought. Hell, there was a book, and then a movie called "The Secret" claiming to reveal the secret to being successful in life, and it had hundreds of famous people claiming that there success was a result of following the theme of the book. Well after reading the entire book in order to figure out the secret to success, there it was spelled out in the book's final chapter. The "secret" is simply believing in yourself. Visualize yourself being successful. As far as I'm concerned, that's pretty similar to being an optimistic person.


The moral of the story is to never give up on love regardless of how much pain and heartache relationships have caused you. And if you're already giving all of yourself to that other person and treating them as well as you POSSIBLY can, then there's no reason to change that either. 


Think about this: every person in the entire world who is single and is not a widow or widower has never had a relationship that didn't end in failure. By failure I mean a relationship that endured indefinitely. So even if you're hurting and you feel like you're going through the worst emotional pain you've ever been through, you are not alone.


I never want to lose the joy of feeling love like a teenager. Call it what you want—puppy love, infatuation, etc., but what I mean is the kind of love that makes everything in your life better. It makes you want to wake up in the morning. Hell, it makes me want to now only wake up, but to actually make the bed up as well. It puts a nearly constant smile on your face. For me, there is literally no aspect of my life that isn't enhanced at least a little by being in love. It significantly enhances and rejuvenates my mind, body, and soul. 


And if that's not something that's worth giving every ounce of your heart and soul into and not ever giving up on, then I don't know anything that is.


-Cornstock