The Dance

"My life is better left to chance, I could have missed the pain, but I'd have had to miss The Dance." - Garth Brooks

Is it better to have loved and lost, then to never have loved at all? A question that is constantly debated. For me, the jury is still out on this one.

For most of us, each and every relationship we embark upon is part of our journey, and usually gives us something we need, or are looking for at the time we made the choice to enter it.

Sometimes that really was the right choice for us at the time we made it. Sometimes though, youth, inexperience, insecurity, proximity, and or chance are what led us to that choice.

Does that mean it was the wrong choice? Sometimes yes. But not necessarily. Sometimes a friendship that ends badly brought us years of laughs and good times. Sometimes a romantic relationship that we'd rather forget about now brought us many good years before it went bad or perhaps brought a child into the world that we wouldn't be able to imagine life without.

Sometimes I believe love never really ends. Where does the love go when the relationship falls apart? Underneath all the hurt, is the love still there? Were we better off for having had it in our lives for a period of time? Or would it have been better not to have gone down that road in the first place and now have to deal with the pain that comes with loss of love?

I don't have the answers to any of these questions. I do know that not all love stories are novels. Some of them are closer to being short stories, but that doesn't mean that there is any less love involved.

And at the end of the day, the only person we know for sure will be with us come what may, is ourself. So whether we have a love interest in our life or not, whether we had love and lost it, or if we are still looking for it for the first time, we might as well learn to love ourselves. As Oscar Wilde said, "To love oneself is the beginning of a life long romance."