The things you don't realize you'll miss

until they're gone

You don’t get it until it’s too late. It’s like that cigarette you’ve smoked a thousand times, always thinking there’s one more drag, but then the end comes and you’re left with nothing but a soggy filter in your hand. The people, the places, the moments, they slip right through your fingers, like sand you swear you can hold on to. But it’s already too late. And all you have left is the silence in your palms.

That’s the thing about love and loss; it doesn’t wait for you to catch up. You’re always trying to get ahead, trying to fix things, but you don’t see the cracks until they’ve split wide open. And when you finally see it, it’s gone. You can’t go back. You can’t pretend things are the same. People move on. They stop picking up the phone. They stop trying. You can’t make them want you the same way anymore. And you can’t make yourself feel it either.

I can’t fix what’s broken. Can’t un-ring the bell. Can’t take back the words I didn’t say or the chances I didn’t take. The past is a story I’ll never finish, and now all I’m left with is this ache in the pit of my stomach, like an empty glass that used to be full.

So, what’s left? Regret. The kind that doesn’t scream at you, but hums in the background, like a song you can’t turn off. It’s there in the small moments, in the quiet gaps between the noise. The kind that stings in a way you can’t quite explain. It’s not pretty. It’s not fair. It’s just there. And it doesn’t leave.

Maybe that’s all you get. Maybe regret is just the cost of everything you didn’t notice. The love you didn’t give, the time you didn’t take, the moments you let slip by because you were too busy chasing what you thought was next. It doesn’t wrap itself up with a nice bow or offer you closure. It just sits there, waiting, until you realize it’s too late to do anything about it.

You don’t realize what you miss until it’s gone. And when it’s gone, all you have left is memories and the ache that never seems to fade.

---

If you want to dive deeper into these feelings, I recommend reading

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera: captures the fleeting nature of life and the tension between freedom and responsibility.

2. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman: explores the way we often only understand love and loss in hindsight, especially through a grumpy man’s life-changing journey.

3. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah is a beautifully tragic read. A reflection on the heartache of war and missed moments,

---

If you’ve enjoyed this post and want to support my work, you can buy me a coffee as a token of appreciation for the free writing I share here.

And if you’re someone who’d like to learn how to write better free-verse poetry, here’s the link to my e-book, Nature Observation Guide: Finding Poetic Inspiration In The Natural World. It’s a deep dive into how to see and capture the beauty in the world around us through words.

Thank you for being here and reading along. You’re the reason I keep writing. ❤️

I love you!
See you next Wednesday!