Even when things are going well, we know it won't last forever.
Might not even last that long.
It's this realization that keeps us appreciating all of the good times.
At least, that's what I'm told in all of the self-help books.
Heartbreak is inescapable.
It will come for all of us.
And it will come consistently throughout life.
All we can do is try and put the broken pieces back together.
I don't say this to bum anybody out. But the truth is also hard.
Heartbreak comes in many forms.
And there is no real way to prepare.
Redditor vigilantee001 wanted to see if people were willing to share stories about the lowest points in their lives, so they asked:
"What broke your heart completely?"
A Lost Battle
"Watching my grandad lose to dementia."
- Beautiful_Life437
"I watched my wife pass from brain cancer and the effects were similar, her humanity slowly melted away till she was a vegetable. Our hopes and dreams we had worked so hard for were gone. It's been nearly 2 years, and I still have problems hanging out with young families because they live the dream that was robbed from us."
"What broke my heart was our daughter asking to talk to mommy on the phone. One day she even walked out the door because she thought Mommy was coming home and she needed to find her. We walked till she gave up and I had to explain death to a two-year-old."
"30 is too young for this."
- Aggressive_Ad_507
Recovery
"When my daughter died. I’ve never recovered."
- Eastmelb
"Same. It’s been 3 years of absolute hell since my only child died. I don’t know how to go on without her. My parents died within a year of her death. I’m no longer a mother or a daughter. I’m just existing."
"Just editing to thank you all for your kind words and thoughts. This was unexpected and reminded me there is good in the world."
- VADogLove
"My son was murdered 10 years ago, and my father died 6 years ago. I understand and appreciate what you're saying but I'm with the op. I'm no longer a father. Father's Day is an absolute nightmarish reminder of this fact."
- Crookedobject
I Can't Speak
"I cared for my brother for three years who had end-stage renal failure. He was a non-compliant patient, and I often had to be on him to eat right, take his meds, and bathe. After a while, I had to clean him up when he soiled himself, take him to the hospital several times a week, and transport him to dialysis. In the end, I had to lift him from the floor when he fell, which was often."
"One day, while lifting him, I heard a pop and immediately felt excruciating pain. I had developed a micro fracture in my head from over-exertion. The next time he fell, I implored EMS to help him. I had no choice."
"When I visited, he begged me to bring him home, but I couldn’t. It broke my heart to hear him beg to leave. He passed away 8 months after he arrived. I couldn’t even speak for a week."
- ReadyDirector9
The Hard Way
"Figuring out you are not as important to someone you love as you thought you would be. :) I learned it the hard way that I am very much replaceable."
- comradebambi123
"I get this completely. For me, it was soul-destroying that this person didn’t even remotely see me in the same light as I did them. Not even romantically speaking, just I thought we were very close friends and they didn’t even consider us friends at all."
- Daskichan
"I learned it the hard way too, that no matter how much love you've given to someone, if you are not the one, then it has never mattered to them. Hurts so much that I just don't see myself falling for anyone ever again, but I'm trying my best to let go and move on."
- Fish_fingers101
I Lost Her
"My Grandmother raised me. My dad died of a sudden heart attack when I was 8. My mom never got over it and started drinking, so my grandmother, who was 74 at the time, took over for caring for me and my little brother. She broke her hip when she was in her late nineties, and she had to be put in a nursing home. I would go visit her, by then she had started living in the past. She knew me, but she thought I was still in school and would ask why my brother wasn't home, what we wanted for supper, things like that."
"One day I went to see her, and didn't recognize me or know who I was, and didn't speak. That was the most heartbreaking, gut-wrenching day of my life. That broke me. Completely. I went to my car and cried like a baby for a long time."
"She died at the age of 103, but that was the day I lost her. I didn't cry at her funeral."
- 123fofisix
Diminished
"Finding my childhood diary and reading about how confident and fearless I used to be. Somewhere along the way life just... dimmed that light."
- Sweetie-3Cupcake
"Feel this so hard. I was a relentless, fearless, idealistic person. Seeing how things actually work, that the good guys seldom win, that everyone has a price… The cracks got filled in with resignation, cynicism, hopelessness."
- Year_of_glad_
Hbo Mirror GIF by euphoriaGiphy
Cheater
"Got cancer at 27, one year in I discovered my husband I met when I was 14, and had 2 sons with, had a full-blown relationship with one of my best girlfriends, and that had been going on for a year. She pretended to be my close friend during the worst time of my life, so she could attend my children's birthdays, get closer to my husband, and so on. Still recovering 9 years later ❤️🩹."
- iminlovewiththe
10 Months
"Losing my dad. I’m not super emotional on the topic for the most part. I saw the cancer consume him from the inside, going from a hearty 300lbs to under 100lbs in 10 months… But he never complained until the last days… But I always had someone to call about the dumbest things, laugh about my mom's antics, just wholesome moments. I have had a shi**y life in recent years and he is someone who would not have only helped me, talked to me, but also would have helped find a solution."
- Lari1012
10 Days
"My older brother went missing for 10 days. He was then found deceased in a reservoir. Just unimaginable grief and shock. I will never be the same."
- Ehousk
"I had a very similar thing happen to me in another state. He was missing for a day, maybe 2. Police w weren't taking it seriously, so sister went down to the area where he was supposed to be late that night. She found him in a ravine, next to his unscathed motorcycle. It hurt everyone, but I know it really changed her. I'll never forget her cries and screams when she called that night right after she found him. You just can't go through that kind of grief and fully recover. Sorry for your loss ❤️."
- background-backroads
18
"My mother telling me she preferred her girlfriend over me because, and I quote, 'She was not a pain in her a**.' This was at 1 am when I came home after a day in college and working two shifts to help her pay the mortgage. I left the next day. I was 18."
"That was 2 decades ago, throughout the years we somehow made amendments until last year when I went to visit, she approached me privately to tell me she has always told everyone how we were a team during her divorce from my dad (nasty ordeal) and she was always there to bring me groceries and meals."
"I was blindsided and just stared at her and said: 'That’s not what happened.' Her response: 'Get over it.'”
"She wanted to make sure I would support whatever delusional version she made up so she wouldn’t look bad. After that, a lot of memories started coming up and for the first time in my life, it has been the adult version of myself looking back at what happened. My closest friends (who were there then) and my current partner have been incredibly supportive. Some people should never have children, my parents for example."
- WoodenPhysics5292
The Meet-Up
"Made a deal with several friends to meet up on a certain future date/time/place, and one of the keys was that we couldn’t talk about it again; we just had to trust that no matter what happened in the intervening years, we’d be there. I made up special personalized gifts for each person and waited in the foggy park for two hours later than the agreed time. Finally, they broke down and called one of the couples, and not only were they not coming, but they had told the other people they wouldn’t be able to make it, so the other couples decided not to come either. And nobody told me. F**k those guys."
- Celtic_Oak
Ringing
"When I came to the realization that my original hearing would never be restored and I would hear ringing for the rest of my life."
- Sohtes
"I’ve been dealing with it for 30 years. I’m 45. I get depressed because I don’t catch jokes or miss things in conversations. It’s hard to keep up at work or anywhere. My husband knows when I don’t hear something and repeats it for me when in public. Hearing aids are expensive and so I have some I got online that constantly slip out. People don’t understand the ringing we hear and how it never stops."
- Personal_Article_851
The Void
"Losing my childhood pet hit me hard. She was my constant companion through so many ups and downs, and when she passed, it felt like a piece of my heart went with her. It's tough to fill that void, but I cherish the memories we made together."
- NoirGleam
"Same. I’d had a cat who had literally grown up with me. My grandparents got her for me when I was like, 3. She died when I was 19. It absolutely crushed me to lose her. I still replay the last moment she looked up at me before she died after the vet injected her and it can still make me feel so incredibly guilty even though I know it was for the best. There are hardly any pictures of me growing up where she’s not right there with me…losing a pet is hard but one you literally grew up with? It’s indescribable."
- Shupedewhupe
Healing
"Burnout. It made me insensible and I wasn't able to care enough about others. My girlfriend left me for that reason, and when I started to get better, I understood exactly what errors I've done. Now I'm healing well but I find still it hard to find the desire to search for another partner having the fear of repeating the story."
- Average_Rogue
Left Alone
"My fiancé broke up with me 6 months before the wedding because her family was sure my family was poor and got into her head so bad she started nitpicking everything I did. They actually acted like she was the dumbest person on earth to marry someone like me and she just couldn't take it anymore. I swear I would have been better off if she cheated on me than that. After that day I actually do not remember anything that happened for the next 1.5 years."
"I have no recollection of anything. I also quit my job so I guess I just existed at my family's house until I had a wake-up call and got my s**t together. I do not have a happy ending, by the way. I have a nice job that lets me visit other countries several times a year for work and I guess that's nice but relationship-wise I am done."
- eXclurel
Well, that's a lot to process.
It's horrifying how some people can just be so careless with the feelings of others.
Love is a treacherous beast.
There should be some sort of bad behavior high court that dishes out punishment for these types of situations.
