The greatest battle anyone can ever face is not war nor any conflict. It is not even survival. It is also not finding love, but keeping it.
Yet we have been overcoming this war, conflict by conflict since the dawn of mankind.
It was not when the first lusty caveman lumbered over a beautiful woman. It was not during that chill night when their naked bodies entwined so hauntingly. No, it was when the Sun rose and the cold, harsh light of dawn blasted away all romantic notions that the greatest war began.
All the pickup artists, fancy suites and witty one-liners won’t save a man in this war. All the fast cars, big paychecks and accolades won’t save man from the loneliness of a scorned partner. All the big houses, blue pools and exotic cocktails won’t matter when the door closes.
These are the moments when the darkness closes in and the fire flickering in the cave seems meaningless. These are the moments when hearts break and spirits walk through the same empty abyss that many have wandered through before you. These are the moments when tenderness and care seem further from life than the warmth of the Sun in deepest winter or the touch of water from the dryest desert.
And how does man fight this battle? What weapons does he have at his disposal? What armour does he have to defend himself in this war?
My child, these are the times when you realize that you don’t exist, if it were not for your partner. My son, this are the times when your existence truly is a flickering candle in the winds of time that have blown since before even life mucked around on this dirty, little planet. My girl, these are the time when your heart hurt so much because your life is empty and devoid of the one thing that we were built to seek out.
Your other half.
We are souls flying through the vacuum of life on a spinning rock through endless, empty space and we need not the fire nor the Sun for warmth nor the touch of the cool waters on our tongues.
No, my child, we need only each other.
So do not use your head to fight this battle. Do not trust your anger or rage. Do not use your power or intellect. Definitely, do not use your hands. Do not even trust your own heart. Though your heart beats pure, it is like a beast that is frightened and cornered by the loneliness of our existence. And, like a cornered beast fighting for its survival, your heart cannot even truly be trusted here.
No, my child, this is when you trust your hurt. You trust your loneliness. Trust your longing for the other soul in this barren world.
And trust that they feel it too. Trust that they feel your isolation and neglect as sharp as you feel your loneliness. Trust that they feel your insults and injustices as much as you feel their loss.
Break open these feelings and see them in the mirror of life cast into the bodies of those around us.
Trust that they hurt as much as you do. Trust that you hurt them just as much as yourself, if not more. While anyone can survive love’s highs, trust that you must survive its lows as well. Trust that when we fall down before our soulmates, that we actually rise up to be with them.
Trust, my child, that you are not alone in love’s endless war and you only lose when you stop loving.
So, my child, do not stop loving.