A Blessing in Disguise: How Heartbreak Can Make You Motivated and Creative

There is perhaps nothing more painful than a broken heart. It takes a person on an emotional and
seemingly endless roller coaster ride. Heartbreak is debilitating. It makes it hard to eat and sleep. Motivation
escapes you, and simply getting out of bed becomes an insurmountable task.
In the words of the perpetually soulful singer Al Green: “And how can you mend a broken heart? How
can you stop the rain from falling down? ...Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again.”
There are many forms of heartbreak, but it typically occurs as a result of a romantic relationship coming to an
end. The grief we feel after a breakup can be extraordinarily potent. It often causes us to act in completely
irrational ways. When we finally recover, we barely recognize the person we were at the height of our suffering.
We wonder how we allowed ourselves to become so pathetic and obsessive.
In truth, however, we were no different than the countless individuals who have experienced the blinding pain
of a shattered heart.
Moreover, we should all learn to recognize the positive aspects of heartbreak. This might sound
contradictory, but suffering is both natural and enlightening. Heartbreak is deceptive, don't let it fool you.
Heartbreak is psychologically and physiologically jarring. Love is the most addictive drug. Studies have shown
that getting over lost love is much like going through withdraw from toxic substances. Heartbreak and grief lie
to us. They tell us no one else feels quite as miserable and isolated as we do. We become convinced no other
person in human history has felt like such complete and utter sh*t. This type of self-indulgent despair is perhaps
the most gruesome aspect of heartbreak. There's nothing worse than feeling alone and rejected. Yet, it is precisely
these sentiments that make us human and connect us as a species.
You're never truly alone. Likewise, as the immensely wise James Baldwin once stated:
You think your pain and your heartbreak are unprecedented in the history of the world, but then you read. It was
books that taught me that the things that tormented me most were the very things that connected me with all
the people who were alive, or who had ever been alive.
With that said, heartbreak isn't entirely negative. As noted by psychologist and relationship expert Dr. Carmen
Harra, it also carries many hidden blessings. It can help lead to the kind of emotional intelligence necessary for
success. Likewise, it stimulates creativity.
Heartbreak can be a source of inspiration and motivation. Love is timeless, and so is much of the art,
theater, film, literature and music it's influenced. Heartbreak isn't the end of the world, in many ways it's the
very beginning.