Sunday, November 16, 2014

The Love We Deserve

A friend recently went through a slightly tumultuous break up with an incredibly toxic and manipulative person. It brought me back to one of my favorite lines from a book, "We accept the love we think we deserve." The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky.
     You always wonder why the sweet girl ends up with the full-of-himself, aloof jerk. Or why the good guy ends up with the bitchy, bossy, over-the-top girlfriend. Neither the sweet girl or good guy are happy, and they deserve so much better, yet here they sit. Why?
I am living proof of Chbosky's statement. I know why. 
     Having my family torn apart at age 18 and still removing shrapnel from the explosion today, being married at 21 and divorced at 22, and receiving a diagnosis of bipolar disorder at 24, I am broken. I feel like damaged goods. Like recycled trash that will never find anyone broken and battered enough to see it as something still useable. I am wrong. In my highs, I know I am wrong. It's in the back of my head, but I can push it away. In my lows, I feel it is the truest statement I have ever breathed.
     When you go through trauma, of any sort, you feel like pieces of you are broken and missing. You begin to feel ashamed that whatever happened, happened, and you feel less than desirable because of it. So when someone throws their attentions your way you think to yourself, 'Can this be? Do they actually want me? Am I good enough for them?' and your heart begins to swell. And the more broken they are, the safer you feel that your own failings will not be a downfall in this relationship. Together you can pretend to be whole.
     This is why we accept that love. This is why we can't truly love until we learn to love ourselves. Being content in your skin and loving yourself can be the hardest thing you've ever had to try and do.
But that is the love that you actually do deserve. 

"I just want you to know that you're very special...and the only reason I'm telling you this is that I don't know if anyone else ever has." The Perks of Being a Wallflower

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