An Optimist's Guide to Heartbreak (Heartsong, #1)

by Jennifer Hartmann

“I just mean…not everything that makes us hurt needs to be forgotten or banished. It hurts because it mattered. And things that mattered once, will always matter,”

“We need to find a way to carry those things with us in a positive way—instead of letting them bring us down, they should move us forward. Inspire us. Help us grow.”

As I stand here with tears tickling my cheekbones, I know that life’s truest treasures live inside the unexpected moments. The little curveballs that sweep us off our feet and steal our breath.

Honestly, the more my peers claimed I was less of a person, or lacking in some way, the more love I wanted to give. The more I appreciated everything good around me.

It’s the last week of September—officially fall—and there’s something in the breeze today that makes me feel nostalgic. It’s funny how that happens sometimes. There’s no exact recollection that springs to mind, no precise moment, but it feels like I’m lost to a memory I can’t quite pinpoint.

Fireflies, lightning bugs, glowworms.

Beautiful things never last, and that’s why fireflies flash.

We were high on life. Buzzing with adventure. Blissfully in love with everything under the stars. Everything the sun touched, and everything the moon kissed. In love with each other.

I’m not his, but I have his hand, and I have a little panda pressed to my heart, and I have this night, even if the nights don’t last forever. Right now, I have everything, and all that ever really matters is right now.

“I’m not untethered from hardship, Cal. It lives inside of me every day, just like yours does. I simply choose to overcome it. I choose to be happy because being sad spoils the little time we have here,”

Things that make us sad aren’t all bad. Sometimes, sad things serve as a gentle reminder that we still feel.