What matters is that I learned. I have a better, fuller understanding of things. It truly is painful to see the one you love, love someone else. The more eager we grow, the more painful the experience is when it's not what we wanted. The problem is that you don’t want to be different. But if this is the only way for me to be able to see you smile every day, then it’s okay. But none of that mattered then nor now. My heart was racing. You deserve the most genuine kind of happiness that this world has to offer. Dedicated to your stories and ideas. I’ve been in love with the same girl for over a decade now. There is one positive outcome from this: You shed excess. But I did understand the likelihood of each possible outcome. And I recently had the opportunity I’d been dreaming of: We had another chance to give things a shot, it seemed. Sign up for the Thought Catalog Weekly and get the best stories from the week to your inbox every Friday. I could have come into the light and claimed you as mine. This doesn’t change the fact that I was caught off-guard. I know because it almost destroy me. I believed she would love me for the rest of her life, as I will love her for the rest of mine. She was the one I always believed I’d end up with; I was convinced that no matter how many times either of us screwed things up, we’d eventually come back to each other. But I learned she was running to me because she was running away from someone else -- a man she now loves. Seeing the person you love fall in love with someone else can destroy you. The wind was knocked out of me. You could have loved me, and I could’ve been her. But that wasn't -- isn't -- the case. “When you love someone, you love the whole person, just as he or she is, and not as you would like them to be.”– Leo Tolstoy. Then you do your best to figure out how to cope with it. You don’t want to change. I didn’t know how to stand. It’s funny how things never really turn out the way you thought they would. I wish I could tell you which part that is, but I haven’t yet been able to pin it down. Learning to accept that the the person you love has fallen in love with someone else can teach you some of life's most important lessons. Loving someone is a selfless act. Then you do your best to figure out how to cope with it. I could have told you how I really feel about you, thinking that you probably feel the same way too. I may have understood how things were going, but I didn't want to watch. You'll stop pursing the same things. “True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. And if you found that kind of happiness with her, it’s okay. And that's one of the reasons I've always loved her so much; she has an immense capacity for love. Â. I tried loving others, but it never worked out. When you realize that your loved one is in love with someone else, you see that the life you thought you'd have is no longer possible. 204. I may not be in the right position to act like this because there was never an “us.”. Deep love quotes to warm your heart. Learn about us. You let go of the stress and worry of not knowing how things will turn out, because now you know the answer. I was smart enough to understand where things were going before they got there. The question is: do you have it in you to redefine your beliefs, to redefine what you think the purpose of all this is? You'll no longer feel or look at the world in the same way. I guess that’s why it was so incredibly difficult to see her in love with another man. I didn’t know what to think. If you don’t confirm your beliefs then your beliefs must be wrong and therefore must be changed. Then there are other times -- when our anticipation takes root and grows over months or years of waiting -- when real life pales in comparison to our fantasies.