quote

someone once wrote this quote for me: i believe it was originally said/written by H.D. Thoreau:

"Not til we are lost, in other words, not til we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the value of our relationships."

now i think the "real" quote is a bit different. however, the context in which this was said to me was a bit strange. regardless, i am still coming to terms with what this quote means. i mean, i know what it means, but i am searching for some other hidden meaning. i feel as though i am struggling to get something else out of this, rather than just the following:

we cannot really and truly figure out who we are as a person [both to ourselves and others], and we cannot realize how important our relationships with others are and how much they are worth, until we first lose it all [not til we have lost the world...everything that has meaning to us. or not til the world loses us...]

its like, "you dont know what youve got til its gone" type of saying. and unless i really cant find the other meaning, i feel as though this quote sucks. i mean, i could have told you this!! dont we all know that REALLY knowing...who we are, or just anything...can only TRULY be found when we start from ground zero?