Sometimes life becomes really, really heavy. It can’t be all jokes, all the time (much as I like to try.)

To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man’s-land. To experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again. - Pema Chodron, When Things Fall Apart

We often want to walk towards the good things and avoid the tough parts. Hope for the best and forget the worst. Bury our heads in the sand instead of feeling every excruciating moment. Walk in the light rather than climb through the dark.

After a big life event, the world becomes so quiet - it’s the air after a sonic boom where all you can hear is that never-ending ringing in your ears.

The only real way forward is through. Feeling every glass shard. Every dissonant note. Accepting the truth, putting on our oxygen, and facing every moment along the way - even the ones that broke us.

Because in the end, you come back to yourself - with steel, faith, and pure grit.