“He came out with a teddy bear as big as me…” Valentine’s heartache
Valentine’s Day is here, and while many are preparing for the day’s festivities, others are lying in dread. A day of red roses and heart-shaped confetti that brings so much joy and so much sadness at the same time for the same reason:
Love!
If you are one of the people hiding away from Valentine’s Day, then please know that you are not alone (even if you are).
While it may seem that everyone else in the world has found their perfect Instagram match, don’t always believe what you read on social media. Love can heal, but it can also hurt, and it has hurt many a person in the past and will do so long into the future.
Some people have shared their poor relationship experiences in the run-up to the International Day of Love.
These are the stories that is not told in cheesy books or in the bright colours of your TV screen. These are the stories of when love goes wrong.
What may seem like love, or even feel like love can be a lie, sometimes love is used as an excuse for something else.
“It took me six months of planning to leave as every time I tried, I would get gas-lighted and manipulated to stay,” Adam* wrote on Twitter.
Love being real is no guarantee of escape either.
“They had been cheating. For a long time, they had been cheating. They cried, I cried, they begged me to stay, to promise not to tell anyone,” says Oliver* from Twitter.
Sometimes, people cannot accept that love is over.
“After the break-up he started stalking me, literally. My friends kept seeing him around our area,” Fiona* wrote on Instagram.
Some people may move to quickly into love, ruining their chance before they even had one.
“They come out from the side with a teddy bear as big as me and a bouquet of flowers. It wasn’t even two full weeks.” also from Fiona*.
Sometimes love is entirely uneventful. Nothing bad does not always mean all good.
“We just slipped into a boring routine. We weren’t special anymore,” Lydia* said on Twitter.
It is important to remember that there is always hope. In the darkest of heartaches, there can always be light.
“This story does end with hope. I hope that wherever they are, they found peace and happiness. I have.” Oliver* said.
This Valentine’s Day, if you are alone, there is no need to hide. The day will come and go as any other day, the hearts will disappear from shop windows and, most importantly, the chocolates will be half price come Tuesday.
If you are celebrating Valentine’s Day, then do enjoy it with your loved one. If not, then have a good day anyway, the 14th of February can just be another day of life in a world of people with different stories to bear.
*Names have been changed.
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