All You Need is Love

All you need is love. A famous and also an overused line from The Beatles. It’s still one of my favorite quotes. I believe in it and I live by it, or at least try. But love is not all you need. What we also need is almost the opposite of love. That is pain.

I recently lost my job. I didn't see it coming. I was told on a Tuesday with a two-week notice. It was a shock. I didn’t handle it well. I called friends and cried on them. I cheated on my low-carb diet and had a huge ass cookie on the way home and I slept a lot.

This incident is definitely making into my Top 3 Life Challenges. I’m unhappy, angry, lost and feeling hopeless.

But I’m writing again. For months, I wasn't writing. I had a stable job , — or so I thought — and a lover — who’s long gone now, of course. Summer came early, and everyday was full of sunshine and time spent at parks and lakes. I was happier than ever and content with every aspect of my life. But I wasn’t feeling creative. Or rather I didn’t feel the need to put my thoughts down into words.

Many of the greatest art in the world are often associated with pain or come from it. Artists put their pain into something others can see, read or hear, and then feel. Pain connects people like love does.

And not just writing, I’m thinking again. Was I doing what I love? What do I want to do with my life? Similar to artists, many successful people look back their journeys and say failures were the significant events that took them where they’re now. Pain wakes up and motivates people like love does. Or sometimes more than love can.

While we all want love, no one goes and look for pain intentionally. But we have to appreciate pain instead of letting it crush us.

So after some tears — and a few glasses of wine — I said fuck it and turned the pain into fuel to push myself. I’ll still be jobless for sometime and I haven’t come up with the next big business idea, but I’m ready to tackle this life shit.

In the end of the day though, what helped me stand up again wasn’t the pain nor that huge cookie or wine. It was the people who listened to me cry and told me it was going to be alright. It was love.

I still believe The Beatles. Without love, pain will destroy us. But, pain teaches us to love better.