break

Break:  verb, broke or ( Archaic ) brake; bro·ken or ( Archaic ) broke; break·ing; 

–verb (used with object)

1.

to smash, split, or divide into parts violently; reduce topieces or fragments: She broke more than a dozen eggs; or, the waves were too big and broke her surfboard :(  

—Verb phrases

break away,

to leave or escape, esp. suddenly or hurriedly.

to sever connections or allegiance: with your coworker or employer

to cease to function: a breakdown in communication
a break in: to stop suddenly; discontinue:
to break off relations with one's neighbors.  

To break out,

e.

to take out of (storage, concealment, etc.) for consumption:
to break out one's best wine.

—Synonyms 

1.  fracture, splinter, shiver. Break, CRACK, crush, shatter, smash  mean tore duce to parts, violently or by force. Break  means to divide by means of a blow, a collision, a pull, or the like: to break a chair, aleg, a strap. To crush  is to subject to (usually heavy or violent) pressure so as to press out of shape or reduce to shapelessness orto small particles: to crush an egg. To shatter  is to break insuch a way as to cause the pieces to fly in many directions: to shatter a light globe.  To smash  is to break noisily and suddenly into many pieces: to smash a glass. 2. disobey, contravene. 6. disrupt. 14.  surpass, beat. 22.  demote. 34.  fragment, smash.69.  rent, tear, rip, rift, split; breach, fissure, crack. 74.  stop, hiatus, lacuna, pause, caesura. 

...oh, but wait?!

—Antonyms 
1.  repair!!

I suddenly noticed the last few weeks have been all about breaks; breaks in the action, breaking eggs, jobs breaking, relationships breaking, pieces breaking (lost an entire kiln load), seams splitting, and of course one fabulous surfboard breaking (no body parts were broken at least - phew).

"Breaks" have everything to do with the every day studio life of a ceramic artist (at least this ceramic artist).  I am forever working the "try, try, try, wait and see, try and then try again" angle; I'm convinced it's good practice.   In fact, I'm convinced you don't have a choice in the matter.  Turns out that kind of experience helps when things in everyday life inevitably break.  Hec - I try to fix the break, put the pieces back together, problem solve, isn't that a natural reaction?  I even might try some (not so) 'magic' water, slip, pray, drink?  If that doesn't work, at some point, it's time to let the thing go.  Then you think about what went wrong.  Then it's time to get your hands on another bag of clay and get to work.

Hopefully, you learn something in the process about yourself, your work, your life...

Some things can be fixed, affixed, and some cannot.  It's that sort of thing that makes life so interesting.
It's easy when it's easy - it's the challenging bits that get the blood moving - even if they leave a mark.