Soul Mates

“A true soul mate is probably the most important person you’ll ever meet, because they tear down your walls and smack you awake. But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful. Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. A soul mate’s purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, and make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life.” ~Elizabeth Gilbert

I first came across that quote about a year ago and it got me thinking. As someone who thinks too much it had already dawned on me once or twice that the person I am in love with is probably not my soul mate. No offence at all to him though, I have never been happier in my life. We are just two completely different people who miraculously balance each other out, but I wouldn't call us soul mates. As someone who is also a bit of a romantic it might of been easy for me to start wondering but what if there is such a thing as soul mates? Even worse what if my soul mate is someone else? Even worse than that, what if I know who that person is? 
After careful consideration and with the help of the above wise words I put that minor/potentially major issue to rest. I'm taking the above quote to heart, it's nice to read something and go wow, that actually makes sense. Quite a while ago now, I got heart broken, shaken all about, and came out of it ever so slightly stronger with some life lessons learned. And what do you know it wasn't the end of the world after all? I got up, brushed myself off and fell in love all over again even deeper than before. I was almost going to say something patronising like 'love is hard when you're young' but that would diminish how strongly I felt, or make it sound like it gets any easier, both would be lies. I suppose the point I'm making in a very round about (you'd think I was trying to pad out a 5000 word essay) way is that if I do believe in soul mates it's by the above definition, and thankfully I've been there, done that. My wise Mum always says 'People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.' The tricky part is figuring out who's meant for which.