"The insecurities they made us forget."

And the truth is — whatever we miss most about a person who has left us is almost always the thing that we need to cultivate inside of ourselves. The kindness they showed us is the kindness we must learn to show ourselves. The strength that they harnessed is the strength we need to build up on our own. The compassion they share with us is the compassion we must learn to practice, and the emptiness they leave behind is the void that we have to learn to fill without them. Contrary to popular belief, the cure for heartbreak isn’t replacement. It is growth. It’s the ability to step back from our sadness and understand its origins. To decipher precisely where it stems from. And then to learn how to incorporate whatever we’re lacking into our day-to-day lives. Because as much as we can miss a person – as much as we can ache and mourn their absence – we will never miss anyone as much as we miss the versions of ourselves that we became alongside them. The ways in which they made us feel worthy. The insecurities they made us forget. The wounds we buried deep down inside of us, which their presence pasted temporary Band-Aids on. And as much as their absence may ache, perhaps the silver lining is this – it opens us up to the opportunity to understand what exactly it is within ourselves that we still need to work on growing into. Because when someone leaves, they leave a void behind. And we are left with two simple choices: To fill that void with somebody new, or to rise to the challenge of filling it up ourselves. The former may feel like the easier move. But the latter will be infinitely more rewarding. Because at the end of the day, the most rewarding person you will ever get together with after a breakup is yourself. - H.C.P.