Behind The Scenes Of My Short Story: Unlearning You
Read my short story Unlearning You here first.
Unlearning you continues to linger within me much like the memory of the lover lingers within the main character. I am still captivated by it because I have come to truly understand that saying goodbye to the ones we love never gets easier, even when it’s our choice. Change is the hardest concept for humans to adapt to yet we continue to love deeply despite knowing love’s fleeting nature. This story stands as a eulogy to the death of a relationship. We often mourn people but we don’t mourn relationships. Yet, when we mourn people often times the thing we are most sad about is the loss of our relationship with them.
“How do I erase the contents of our love? Or archive it…”
The narrative that time heals all wounds is true in some sense but misleadingly so. It is so easy to believe that the heartache will fade to a mellow fondness with age but I don’t think that is what time does. I think the pain and love can ring just as sharply 40 years later if you haven’t grieved what was lost and celebrated what was given properly. Treating a wound is what heals it not time.
Why did I make Unlearning You a short story and not a poem? I always saw it as more of a diary entry or letter which is why I thought a short story would do it more justice. I wanted it to feel like that deeply personal letter you write to a loved one while crying and end up burning it once written. It felt like a picture capturing a moment in time which is something I believe lends itself better in story form. I like the movement that the form of short story brings to it while keeping it a fixed piece in time of a much larger narrative.
“I’m saying goodbye to our good times but I’m also saying goodbye to our bad times.”
This story deals deeply with the romanticization commonly felt after the ending of a relationship. Even when we mourn people we do it terribly by trying to package the person completely in love or hate despite neither painting a full picture. It is so easy once something ends to not remember the hardships you faced as vividly. By surviving to the present, the past always seems easier and more endurable than it felt in the moment. I try to bring it full circle at the end by allowing the main character to admit their relationship ending was necessary despite all the fond memories. I think it’s a lot harder to have a perspective of mixed feelings in life so we try to summarize all are feelings into good and bad. This way of reacting minimizes our healing process though because it doesn’t allow us to feel the full range of emotions brought to the surface.
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Blog by Nicole Asherah. Nicole Asherah is an artist who tries to connect people to intimate moments, feelings, and relationships experienced throughout life through her poetry, paintings, and photography.
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