When the dust settles, pain is the reminder of what took place.
Each of us living proof that with insult carries injury.
Each of us bearing wounds that reach into our spirit, and are felt within our soul.
Changing us from inside out, shifting our perspectives as our sense of self responds, as our consciousness is moved.
This pain is transformative.
This pain is growth.
It doesn’t feel like transformation or growth. Swimming through a sea of emotions and trying to make sense of it all. We are left unsatisfied when we point a finger at the world, laying blame on the people, places, and circumstances that took part. Pointing a finger back at self only adds to the existing torment. To what do we owe this pain? These unsolicited battles, these wounds we did not deserve.
Learning requires an exchange and insight comes at a cost.
The rose-coloured lenses must come off. We pay upfront with our naivety and ignorance, gaining wisdom as the tradeoff for our endurance.
We grieve the comfort blanket that hid the truth.
We yearn for the false sense of security that had bred mock confidence.
As we grapple with this pain.
The suffering that comes from learning, growing, and knowing better now.
Pain is an intermediary that transports us towards our becoming, all the while exposing the harshness of this world.
Step by step, with each experience carrying the pangs of growth.
Life imparting shreds of reality that second as bitter little pills.
Why must pain be the intermediary? Why suffer injury to grow? How can we derive so much comfort in our ignorance, given that it equally exposes us to so much harm. Naivety masquerading as a shield, when in reality, a lack of understanding leaves us weak and defenceless against the threats that lie beneath the surface. Why is there solace in not knowing, when there is so much inherent risk that it creates.
Innocence is a birthright we are forced to abandon with time.
A different timeline for each path, and wounds that are tailored to our individual journeys.
We grieve for versions of self that were sacrificed in experience, too blinded by the pain of what once was, to see the gift that knowledge always leaves in its wake.
Rebirth requires our commitment to the process of recovery.
Becoming, unfolding, as we focus on healing, as we dare to let go of what, and whom, no longer serves us.
With intention the pain enables us to leave our mark. Becoming only that which will serve us.
This pain could leave us bitter or resentful.
Or, this pain can make us wiser and insightful.
Powerful.
Truth comes at a cost, and ignorance is the sacrifice.
Pain is the testament to our strength, while our battle wounds are a testament to our will.
Choose to recognize the ways we have triumphed.
Trust that when we know better, we’ll do better.
Each of us, we are history in the making. Living proof of the beauty that pain has the power to create.