Grief isn’t hard. It’s impossible. Inevitable. Terrible. The consequence of love, and proof that you’ve lived… really lived.

If you’ve ever survived an impossible thing, you, my friend, are brave.

Truly. You are.

You’re healing, maybe from something obvious. Maybe from all those paper cuts on your heart from when you told yourself you weren’t good enough or that person betrayed you or that person died or this life felt like too much.

And you’re here. Still… after everything you’ve been through.

Wow.

That means you’re stronger than you feel. Because strength doesn’t mean you always feel strong. It means you show up anyway.

You show up to do the messy work of being a human with bills, deadlines, parties, funerals, broken things. In a world that keeps moving even when you wish you could go back in time or just… take a day off.

You show up to see what comes next. And you do what you can.

It’s a lot to juggle. But you’re way more than what happens to you.

Look at it this way:

It’s all part of you and you’re part of everything.

So. Try this:

Accept ALL of your emotions, even the messy, fiery ones that feel like a volcano or maybe a sinkhole. All of them. All of you.

The healing you’re looking for is the recognition of your own courage and resilience. Your own wholeness: all the “good” stuff and all the “bad” stuff. All the life and death and in between stuff.

Life’s an all-inclusive deal. So are you.

Every trauma you grew through, every emotion you breathed in and out makes up who you are. Yet, you're even more than that.

You’re strong and brave and resilient and… well, everything. A galaxy. A whole damn universe, even.

You can handle a lot more than you think you can.

Because, you're a whole lot more than you ever thought you were.

And there’s a whole lot of life to live, things to see and give and laugh about, even after you’ve died inside. Sometimes that’s what it takes to live the entirety of this life, the entirety of yourself.

“We are so scared and brave. We are so terrified and willing. We rewrite the definition of brave and it is this: love again. love again. love again.” — Fortesa Latifi

. . .

Tell me:

What thoughts from this post did you most need to read today?

Tell me in the comments. I read every single one, and I'd love to know.

Your fan,

Jen

P.S. If you need something to lean on in impossible times, find your favorite poetry print and look at it to feel strong again. Or, get a copy of my book Sleep Affirmations and open it up whenever. It’s love, disguised as a book about rest.