Dear You

Dear You:

You, who is feeling stuck, defeated, raw, tender, heart-sick, bone-weary, overwhelmed, overburdened, beaten down or broken, or anything that feels like hell right now:

You are alive, and so you will know suffering. I'm sorry. It’s a lot to survive sometimes, and it hurts. It's okay that it hurts. It hurts because it matters. But/and/also... there is more to you than just the hurt. You are still whole, though you may feel shattered.

You are here now. You can meet whatever has come to you (even if it sucks and you didn't ask for it and you don't want it) in whatever way you want. You can be with the trouble of your life however you want. That’s something. It’s no small thing - to choose.

No. You may never go back to “normal” or feel “all better”… because life has its way with us, and we are changed, and the shape of who we are shifts to hold the weight of what we must learn to carry; but, even in tough transitions and dark times, when you’re really going through the shit, you can be in choice around “what now?”

If it feels good to you, you can hold and be held. You can move toward connection and care. You can experience safety, rest and ease inside. Relief and resonance. Softness and sustenance. You can orient to the moments, however fleeting, where it feels genuinely good to be alive.

You can decide to be right in this mess and keep staying, keep going.