Losing the thing you were sure you wanted is sometimes how you learn you never wanted it at all.

Wanting something and wanting what it would prove are easy to confuse while you are still chasing it. Losing removes the pursuit and leaves the feeling behind, and sometimes what surfaces is relief rather than grief, which tells you something the wanting never could. That does not make the loss painless, only informative.

If something recently fell through, give the relief a fair hearing alongside the disappointment. Ask what specifically you were hoping the thing would settle for you. Whatever that is, it is still worth having, and there is probably more than one door into it.