Page 62 - Advanced Romance

Advanced Romance* 59
habits to become employable enough to secure adequate finances.
Again, roommates can take a big bite out of financial needs.
5. Ego and self-esteem—
Right up there with loneliness is the often fragile ego and its kissing cousin, self-esteem. Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary defines the two as the same thing. Regardless, a failed relationship can be devastating to the ego. “Losing love is like a window to your heart, everyone sees your blown apart, everyone hears the wind blow.” Paul Simon.33
Perhaps one who thoroughly understands the vicissitudes and impersonality of love, and who has an extensive and well-maintained support system, is less devastated by the changes that love sometimes goes through. And certainly, lost love isn’t as devastating as it used to be when a single woman was considered a failure and potentially an unemployable homeless case. And a single man a cockholdish wimpy joke. See the above loneliness discussion showing how many people seem to be able to live happily enough alone these days. However, the status of being dumped is one of the lower rungs of the self-esteem ladder.
Much of this perception could be changed if the fundamentalism that insists the end of a sexual