I recently lost my heart, and no – I don’t mean that I’ve developed some sort of hopeless crush. I mean that I lost the heart pendant my mom gave me for Christmas my sophomore year of high school, and that was about six years ago. Since then, that pendant has become priceless to me – even though its silver color is fading slightly and it’s nowhere near as sparkly as it once was. I know that pendant probably doesn’t have much monetary value, but for me it’s priceless.
Now this is super cheesy, but for me, that pendant carries a bit of home and family with me everywhere I go; I never take it off. It reminds me of my favorite Christmas, and now that I’m not at home very often, it means a lot to me. It fell off my chain necklace and that was that. It’s such a small thing, which is why it’s so interesting to me that it carried such great meaning . I replaced the pendant so I still had the feeling of something there, but it was different.
If you can’t tell already, I was seriously bummed. It made me think of how much value I put in things I have. It sort of forced me to think about things I have that aren’t physical things – things like memories, friends, and even little personality traits. I had to remind myself that home is still home. And I know my family will always be there for me, even if I don’t have a pendant around my neck to remind me of that. People will still see me as me, even if I don’t have that pendant I wear 24/7. Again, this is super cheesy, but I was forced to still see me as me, despite not having something that meant so much to me.
I think we all tend to lose things that carry great meaning for us. For me it was something as small as a pendant. But sometimes it’s a friendship, our health (especially now that it’s flu season), a significant other, our confidence when we get a bad grade on an assignment…and the list goes on and on. I know these things have varying degrees of impact, but I think it’s important to hold onto things that aren’t physical things, and to always remain hopeful. We can be hopeful for new memories, new abilities, and new relationships. We can always put ourselves back together again, no matter what we lose.