Happy Ending Empathy

I've had an interesting development in the last couple of weeks. I've begun watching TV's The Bachelor. This may not sound all that odd. After all, it's a very popular show but, for me, this is out of the ordinary.  I watched very briefly in the first couple of seasons and then wrote it off. It just didn't appeal to me. However, recently the commercials seemed to be drawing me and so I watched.  Funny thing is, the same things I didn't like about it then, I don't like about it now, but yet I found there was something satisfying about it this time around. So I began opening up my heart and mind to see if I could figure out what was going on. Over the last year I've done a lot of self-analyzing to work through the mountain of emotions that come pouring out when you lose a loved one - like clowns from the little car at the circus that just keep coming and coming and coming. So whenever I start to feel that little poke of the unconscious, it's time to stop and say, okay, I'm listening. Open that little car door and let the parade begin.

In all actuality, it turned out to be fairly simple.  My reason for disliking the show originally seems to be the very reason I find myself attracted to it now - It's difficult to watch people get their hearts broken. For someone like me who can be overly empathetic, the ending of each episode can feel rather traumatic with some poor woman crying her eyes out in the limo because she just lost her love. However, that said, this time around when I see the rose-less woman leave at the end of the show it makes me feel a little less alone. I still feel just as bad for her, but it reminds me that other people have problems too, that we all bear some sadness, that we all have our times of ups and downs, that true love is wonderful to have and terrible to lose, but always worth having, no matter what the ending.

So I've decided to continue watching through the end of this season. I'll keep empathizing with the heartbreaks, but if I hold in there long enough I might get to see a happy ending, and I sure could use a happy ending. How about you?