Typical Words

A quote lifted off Google, a pat on the back, promises that “it’ll be alright” and assurances of God’s greater plans.

We force a smile and say thank you, say I’ll be alright, I’m okay. But in the back of our heads, we feel the sorrow, regret and hopelessness that comes with the pains of life. These are the typical ways the people in our lives will try to give us comfort in the bad times. We can’t help but really think: “they’re not going through my situation, what do they know? I’m not alright, and your words won’t change anything.”

Like needles piercing through our hearts, the pain of racing thoughts paralyzes us. Finding true comfort isn’t easy.

Self-doubt

Life does not come with a rule-book or checklist on self-actualization. We go through stochastic experiences, happy or painful that form the storybook of our existence. It’s easy to blame ourselves for the difficult situations we encounter.

We know that we can run our lives better, but something holds us back. Emotions are powerful.

New perspectives

The beauty of being human is living the experiences and the very real lessons that come from our darkest and most difficult moments.

I remember going through the great pain of losing a good friend very early on in my life. It was a terrible, and heartbreaking experience. It was as if the world had crashed down on me, and I blamed God for seemingly tearing a part of my existence away. But above all, I blamed myself for not giving more time to our friendship.

The pain never seemed to go away, but eventually I started looking back at the moments, the good times I had spent with my dear friend. I went from blaming God to thanking Him for those moments in my life, and it seemed that I had this renewed appreciation in what I now saw as the impermanence of life. A new perspective.

As they say, live in the moment, and treasure it.

It’s about growth

The esteem issues that the recesses of trauma built into our hearts give us a jaded view of life itself. But no matter how negative and stuck in the past we may feel, reality check: life goes on. So what are we meant to do?

Learn, experience, and learn some more. That is what being human is about. The time we have on this Earth is limited, so we have the inherent burden, or perhaps it would be best to title it as an opportunity — to learn, and grow from what we experience. We might encounter people in our lives who can match the way we feel, they help us grow, and we treasure them as our companions. But above all that, we find true growth only in our true selves, and that creates the great journey of life. The challenge, then is being grateful for those experiences.

At the end of the day, comfort will never come during the pain, but when you look back and see that you are a better version of yourself, you will find comfort in how you grew, and moved on.

Being human isn’t easy.