The thing is, we all have to move on. Even if starting over with a clean slate is impossible, we still try to believe that we can and we are capable. Some people are lucky enough to have moving on take its natural course. Some feelings die down, some just had enough. But some, unfortunately, just had to force it.

Oftentimes we just needed a push. Maybe a healthy banter with a friend could convince us it's time to let things go. Or maybe hearing about your ex going out with someone else could do the trick. It's a myriad of thoughts *and sometimes feelings* that finally sets us on the course of walking away and some people say it's for our own good. But how do they know? 

So we head on to find a new environment, cut a few habits, keep the photos away from the surface, and sometimes even changing phone numbers. We let go of old apartments to settle in a new, brighter one that features walls with less memories. Anything that keeps us away from being reminded. We do things to push us to the path we have chosen, the path to moving on. We keep our eyes open for potentials of new love.. or not; regardless if we're ever ready for that. We keep ourselves in good company just so we couldn't let the loneliness creep in the days when happiness was all you wanted and had and you're okay with it. We do what needs to be done because we had to. We know we had to.

Thinking of it now made me wonder about how many times have we been forced to move on? How many times have we kept moving on from taking its natural course? How many times have we treated moving on like a pill we had to swallow because they said it'll make us feel better? How many times have we repeatedly told ourselves lies just so we could convince ourselves it's the truth?

Maybe it takes a little pretending for us to make ourselves completely believe we have moved on. And even if we ever end up successful in forcing ourselves into it—finally feeling better about the idea that we're on our own now, never spending a waking moment moping around, and smiling sincerely—what will happen if, let's say, we end up stepping on an emotional landmine? Which, in the defense of me being a devil's advocate on this one, happens all the time.

Emotional landmines are everywhere on the course of moving on; it could be a song you heard on the radio on your way to work, walking past someone who wears a familiar scent, meeting someone of the same name, or just simply bumping into them one day. A simple text, a simple Facebook post, or a mere tweet could bring it all back. Anything that triggers the thoughts and emotions we kept in the depths of our hearts and minds believing that over time they won't ever get to the surface anymore, because we're done. And what if these emotional landmines finally uncover the truth, that after all this time, maybe you haven't been completely over them?

You're lucky if you get past them and never find yourself busted out by the feelings you have tried to shut. You're lucky because maybe when you get past them without a tinge of pain or a new rising of hope, maybe that's the time you know you're over it. But what if you're not?

Sometimes we tell ourselves it's over just so we could believe that it was.


**
"I know it's over.."
"Yes, it is."