There are some people who are plunged into deep despair and lose all meaning in life when a relationship ends or their heart is broken. Some take the rejection as a personal negation of everything they stand for and feel as if they have no value or worth left as a human being.
Many people can probably relate to such feelings. But you’re only letting down yourself if you succumb to unhealthy obsessions in your youth or are so blinded by love that you can’t see anything else. No matter what, you must always do your best to live courageously. You mustn’t be weak-hearted. Youth is a time for advancing bravely into the future. You mustn’t veer off course, fall behind or hide in the shadows of self-pity.
Youth is not a time for pessimism or self-pity and sadness. Such a mindset is for losers. Please have the confidence and fortitude to think to yourself when you face rejection: “It’s their loss if they can’t appreciate how wonderful I am!” This is the kind of resilient spirit you must strive to cultivate.
John D Rockefeller, the American industrialist and philanthropist who built an unprecedented fortune, was such a person. In his younger days, when he was poor, he proposed marriage to his first love, but she turned him down. The reason, in retrospect, is most amusing: The young woman’s mother wouldn’t allow her daughter to marry someone whose prospects did not seem very bright. This is another point in case of how difficult it is to correctly evaluate the potential of others. But rather than feeling depressed, this rejection seems to have been just the thing to inspire young Rockefeller.
Please don’t let a broken heart discourage you. Tell yourself that you’re not as weak or fragile as to let such a minor thing bring you down. You may think there is no one who could possibly compare to that person, but how will they compare to the next hundred or the thousands of people you will meet? You cannot declare with certainty that there will not be others who far surpass them. As you yourself grow, the way you look at people will change as well.
I’m sure quite a few among you have had your hearts broken or been badly hurt, and perhaps feel unable to go on, your self-esteem in tatters. But you must never believe that you are worthless. There is no substitute for you who are most precious than all the treasures in the universe gathered together. No matter what your present circumstances, you can overcome all obstacles and rise out of any suffering and despair.
It is important for you to become strong. For if you are strong, even your sadness will become a source of nourishment, and the things that make you suffer will purify your life.
Only when you experience the crushing, painful depths of suffering can you begin to understand the true meaning of life. Precisely because you have experienced great suffering, it is imperative that you go on living. The important thing is to keep moving forward. If you use your sadness as your source of growth, you will become a person of greater depth and breadth — an even more wonderful you. This is the harvest of your pain and suffering.
Hold your head high. Because you have lived with all your might, you are a victor. You must not sink into depression or take a path that leads to self-destruction. Discussions On Youth Vol 1
