Pain is growth, though it may not feel like it. Pain stems from our experiences and perceptions - i.e. feeling lonely, not being seen, rejection - but manifests in different ways - i.e. depression, sadness, anger, frustration. Learning where our manifestations of pain stem from enables us to cultivate a deeper relationship with it. Pain brings us closer to finding our truth – allowing us to peel back the layers of conditioning, programming, and trauma. It enables us to feel the depth of our own lived human experience, and heal. With this acceptance, we are able to see pain as beautiful and human, and feel the catharsis that pain elicits.
I want to go beyond simply accepting pain, I want to embrace it like it is my child, but also hold boundaries with it, as I would with my child. Pain, for me, is a catalyst for creation, only if I do not fall so deep into the trenches of it. So, when I am at my lowest, I allow myself to cry – with a resounding sense of peace and hope – and then release, slowly digging myself out of the trench to see the light and feel the lightness.
Through continuing this process, I know its purpose – I am growing, I am being cleansed, and I will be rebirthed after each period of pain into a newer, more authentic version of myself. A version that I can accept more lovingly, even if it less accepted by the world around me.