Time and Distraction

It's been one of those weeks, the kind I only experience once in a blue moon. I've sustained three minor injuries this week, each new injury increasing in pain. I hadn't felt pain since, well, you walked out on me.

My first injury was to the eye. I was folding jeans in a mad rush to clear off the bed so I could go to sleep. While flipping them to fold in half, the thick seam at the bottom of the pant leg swiped my eyeball. Such an irritation, one worthy of a curse word or two. After five minutes of blurred vision and watering from my left eye, I went back to my task.

My second injury occurred on a windy day this week. I was setting my purse in the passenger's seat of my car when the wind blew so hard that it knocked my door forward. It happened fast and unexpectedly. I tried to complete my task, but the door had gained too much momentum and slammed my hand leaving a putrid bruise. The pain was greater than that of the last.

My third injury occurred when preparing my dinner. I thought I'd let the crockpot do the work and while pulling it out from the cabinet, I skinned my knuckle against the wood. It left a nasty gash and throbbed for a couple of days. You see, the location of this scrape was most inconvenient. I found myself forgetting about it and therefore, continually bumping it while performing my daily tasks.

As I said, I hadn't felt pain since you walked out. All of these injuries pale in comparison to the pain of heartbreak. "Our story was one that could be etched in stone", you would say, "because it will last for ever!". Instead you used your hammer and chisel to etch pain into my heart, striking harder and deeper until it fell in a million pieces. 

And finally, an epiphany! All of the pain I've endured this week and the pain I endured from heartbreak happened because of my own negligence. I wasn't focused on the condition of my eye, my hand, or finger, just the task I was quickly trying to complete. The same can be said about us. I wasn't focused on the condition of my heart, just of the relationship I wanted.

 The only thing, other than time, that helped me heal was distraction. My heart broke because I wasn't paying attention and I overcame it when I stopped paying attention.