Quote for the Day: July 18th, 2021

Give me refuge from my craze

Let there be understanding where there was once

anger

Let me be disciplined where I used to be

impulsive

Let me be strong when I want to cave in and cry

Help me to forgive but retain the wisdom that

pain has taught me

Give me solace when my mind knows no rest

Stop the self-indulgent need to seek vengeance

What I have allowed to diminish me thus far

doesn’t deserve the power

I want to love life like I once did

All of this is powerful, but the part that really resonates with me is Help me to forgive but retain the wisdom that pain has taught me. It reminds me of the words by Ovid, Someday this pain will be useful to you. And why should we expect any less of pain? After all, isn’t the only benefit of pain the knowledge we glean from it? In the moment, it shatters us, but what matters is what we create from the shards. Someone somewhere is going to read this and roll their eyes, but let them. Pain teaches us how to be in pain—how to survive it, to make it through to the other side.

In the moment, it [pain] shatters us, but what matters is what we create from the shards.

Every day, someone in the world makes it through something they thought would be unendurable; wear those moments in your life like armor. And I’m not just talking about physical pain. I’ve had three kidney stones, and not one of them was more painful than the unrequited loves I’ve held close at night while crying silently into my pillow.

Every day, someone in the world makes it through something they thought would be unendurable; wear those moments in your life like armor.

What I want for you, what I want for myself, what I want for all of us, is to quit suppressing the truths that pain teaches us. Pain will be there no matter what, and if we allow it to make us stronger, it might hurt a little less the next time. Take care, my friends.

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