When One Door Closes . . .
Many of us have problems during our lifetime, when we think that life will never be the same again. At times like these, it is difficult to believe the quote from the inventor of the first telephone, Alexander Graham Bell: "When one door closes another door opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the one which has opened for us". Of course, if you have financial or health problems, or have just ended a relationship or lost your job, it is very difficult to see a positive end to the situation you find yourself in. However, in most cases, when we choose to move forward, we find ourselves in a much better situation than the one we left.
People, who are heartbroken after a relationship ends, often believe that out of almost eight billion people on this planet, there will never be anyone to replace their last love. The one who has been jilted usually spends months suffering from depression and unable to function properly – only thinking of the wonderful time they had had with their partner and, it doesn’t matter how awful that partner was, they would do anything to get them back.
I, like many other people, have been on both sides of this dilemma and can confirm that being heartbroken is like having a serious illness – for which there seems to be no cure. But, I can honestly say, that looking back at all the partners I have known in my life, I wouldn’t want to spend a week with them, let alone, a whole lifetime.
Unfortunately, many young people suffer from depression and feel that there is no way out of certain situations. Many have problems at school, university or work – or problems at home or in relationships – they feel that they have nowhere to turn. In Britain, the suicide rate of young people, or of those who have been self-harming, has never been as high as it is now. If they could only try and see past the desperate situation that they are in – and realise that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You only have to look on YouTube to see the amount of famous and successful people who had the most terrible childhoods or teenage years imaginable – but they never gave up.
A woman called Joanne, for example, who had a terrible childhood looking after her mother (who had multiple sclerosis) and was not on speaking terms with her father. She dreamed of writing fantasy books for children and wrote some in her teenage years, which she read to her sister to distract her from her awful life. She moved to Portugal to teach English and married a Portuguese man, who abused her in their marriage. She saw herself as a failure when her marriage broke down and she was jobless – with a child to look after.
Joanne moved back to Scotland and had to sign up for benefits – she was living on the breadline. She started to spend time in warm cafes to get out of her flat and made notes for her books. However, it was while she was on a four-hour-delayed train from Manchester to London, that the idea for a story about a young boy attending a school of wizardry came into her mind – and Harry Potter was born. Joanne Rowling, or J.K. Rowling as she is better known, is now the ninth-best-selling author of all time. An estimated 500 million copies of Harry Potter books have been sold and eight films have been made. She is said to be richer than the queen and admits that without all the sadness and loss in her life, she would have never created the amazing little boy who had lost both of his parents.
Sometimes we need very difficult times, to make us stronger in our later years.