We Break Open, Not Apart

Many of us believe the most painful moments break us.

Part of that is real — pain breaks us, but not into pieces. We break open, not apart. We bare our feelings. We feel our colors and show our heart. We learn the most when we’re hurt because pain makes us vulnerable, especially to people. When we’re hurt, we take the most risks, try new things, rediscover ourselves, and search our soul because we need to place our grief. This is more than feeling like broken glass; this is a rebirth, an awakening, a lesson.

We also believe that to heal we need to focus on it but healing isn’t a choice—it just happens. You either slow it down or work with it but it never stops. When you hear echoes in your bones and feel the heaviness in your heart, remember you are still whole, even with the pain. The thing hurting us is it not the pain that makes us. It’s how we grow into it, grow from it, and move on from the gravity of the hurt.

This might be the most challenging time in your life, the hardest you’ve ever had to fight to stay above the water, but you have everything you need. You are everything you need. Pain is temporary, but nothing can take away your growth. Even if you feel like you’ve taken a few steps back, you still own how much you’ve grown. Your growth is always yours. No matter how unfortunate life gets, you don’t fall apart. You don’t need to go searching for yourself in places, things, or other people. Your true essence is always with you. We sometimes forget because of our external troubles.

Whenever you feel so lost that it hurts, remember that you are still here—you just need to be reminded that you are more than what you’re going through.