Perspective and Time

With time comes perspective. This is a lesson I have learned over and over again in my 28 years. Something that you may have once held a strong opinion about can change after days, weeks or sometimes even years. You can’t see it at the time because you are so embroiled in the trauma but after the passage of time, you can look back on that occurrence fondly…or at least with less animosity then you had in the moment.

Something happened to me back in 2001 when I was going to school in Boston. It is something that I think happens to a lot of college kids after moving away from home. It started out as a good relationship but after 4 years together, it turned sour. I made the decision at the time to walk away, bury the past and move on. I never, EVER planned to or thought I would find myself regressing to that dark place I had worked so hard to pull myself out of.

In the past 6 years, I have been able to drive this completely out of my mind, forget that it ever existed. Suddenly last week, it was back in my life. Poats and I had a random discussion about this particular phenomenon. Just like that, I was thinking about it all over again. And I was intrigued.

So Tuesday night, I found myself face to face with my former foe. After a quick stare down, I decided that enough time had passed…I was willing to give it another shot. I pulled two of the Styrofoam containers off the shelf, paid my $0.50 and left with my newly acquired booty.

Just knowing it was in the house stressed me out. It took me two days to work up the courage to go up against The Beast. I mean, it had been over 6 years since we had last faced off! But last night I finally did it. I pulled it out of the pantry, got a fork and dug in.

The result….RAMEN is good!

The Experiment

Title
Broken Hearts and Bandaged Feet: A Comparative Analysis

Statement of Purpose
Having participated in some reflective thought over the past couple of weeks, I noticed that there were alarming similarities from the first time I got my heart broken to this most recent time. Wanting to avoid this in the future, I thought an experiment and analysis surrounding this very topic would be beneficial.

The first similarity is that both break ups occurred on the exact same weekend 3 years apart. But the most alarming fact is the following both, I found myself wallowing in physical as well as emotional pain. The pain seemed to manifest itself into injured and bandaged feet thereby forcing me to wear flip flops to work for varying lengths of time.

The purpose of this comparative analysis is to identify, investigate and conclude why these two seemingly unrelated factors seem to be intrinsically linked using a historical control group and data set.

Hypothesis:
Using historical data as a reference point, we will be able to ascertain the precise length of time at which one will be able to "get over it" and officially move on.

Materials:
Broken Heart 1 data (BH1)
Broken Heart 2 data (BH2)
Accelerated Healing Program 1.2 (AHP)
Friends and Family
Complex mathematical formula

Procedure

1. Create complex mathematical formula using the following data elements: length of time together, business days spent in flip flops, length of time to get over
2. Assign numeric values (in weeks) to said data elements
3. Execute complex formula using historical data as control group
4. Use this data to calculate exact moving on point
5. Design and develop criteria for the AHP thus shortening the expected grieving time frame
6. Pilot AHP 1.2 in the field and report on the results

Results
BH1 stats:
352 weeks together; 2 weeks in flip flops = 96 weeks to get over

BH2 stats:
56 weeks together; 2 days in flip flops = 16 weeks to get over*
*4 weeks logged as time served


AHP 1.2:
The new generation of this program included the following activities: running, tennis, dance classes, yoga, cooking, traveling, and soon to be sky diving and higher education.

Conclusions
After assessing the data, my conclusion is that it will take me a period of no longer then 4 months to get over this heartbreak completely. Although the official start date to this time frame is fuzzy given lack of judgement on the part of this scientist, I estimate that I am about 1 month into the recovery process thereby giving me 3 more months of work.

I also conclude that AHP 1.2 has made significant improvements in its new manifestation. I will continue to utilize this program in an effort reduce my bottom line as explicitly stated above.

My final conclusion is that my feet hurt. They hurt the first time. But after a little TLC and time they did eventually heal. The scars they left behind remind me of the pain but I have learned that crawling on cement will make you bleed. I won't do that again. I am confident that my currently bandaged feet will also heal in time and I that I will learn from this experience as well.