People move on. Time goes on. The Earth spins on. Everything continues. Even in our darkest hours, even when our hearts are broken beyond virtual repair, even when our lives are in shambles, even when our worlds are upside down, life goes on. The world around us doesn't stop just because we do. People still walk their dogs, and get married, and make pancakes, and shop for shoes, and download music, and smoke cigarettes, and read books, and paint pictures. Everything around us continues as it was. Usually, the world is completely unaware of your grief, completely oblivious to your heartache. Usually, you are alone in your grief… or at least you think you are. It's sad, but it's a fact. Life doesn't stop for anybody.

It's easy for us to try to make it all about us. It's easy for us to get angry that people do their everyday mundane things when something so terrible has happened. When there is so many reasons for sadness, how could they make Mikey Mouse pancakes for little Jimmy, or download the latest Explosions in the Sky CD? How can they continue on when we're locked down with misery? It's easy to forget that the person we lost, or the opportunity we missed, or the mistake we made didn't affect our next door neighbors, or the man in the cubical three over, or the girl in the coffee shop, or the waiter at Mario's. It's easy for us to forget, but there's something that we must remember.

Sometimes, we have to be on our own. Sometimes it has to be just us. Alone with our minds. Alone with our souls. Alone with the busy world. Sometimes, in life, we will find ourselves without a companion to walk the dark, dank, dingy halls of life. And sometimes life will seem more like hell. It will seem more like punishment, or penance, or purgatory. But it's okay to be alone. It's okay and it's healthy. A chance to renew, a change to refresh, a chance to think, a chance to grow, and maybe even a chance to learn. Maybe we'll even learn to love again.