What Was Lost Between Us

Every joy we’ve lost has always taught us something. And every sorrow that fades away has always made space for a new beginning. Take a moment to reflect— on yourself, and everything around you. As we grow and move forward, what might we have accidentally dropped along the way? Perhaps it was a beautiful relationship. Perhaps, someone who once mattered. Maybe it was a memory from childhood, or maybe, just maybe— it was ourselves that we lost. So often, we focus only on the things we’ve lost around us— the things we think mattered most. And in doing so, those losses become both our happiness and our sorrow—at once. Sometimes, we carry those feelings for so long that we forget: we are the ones breaking, we are the ones fading, if we keep failing to see our own worth. But no matter what— the “us” we lost along the way helped shape the person we are today. Some things lost brought better things in return. And some losses… led us back to parts of ourselves we never even knew existed. So ask again: on this path of growing up, what part of you might you have dropped along the way? — A short piece by 1991, author of “Just Hold Yourself Tight on the Days the World Turns Cruel”