Beauty in Difficulty

Divorce is hard.
Therapy is hard.
Collecting the pieces of yourself is hard.
Life is hard.

And yet – each and every one of these things, each difficult thing we face is beautiful.

(I’m sorry, what?!)

It’s true. In the midst of each one of our difficult moments, they suck – and they suck hard. But when we come through the other side (no matter how long it takes) the things we find out about ourselves are beautiful.

The beauty comes from knowing that we can do the hard things. The beauty comes from knowing that we are amazing, resiliant, strong beings.

We can crumble into pieces on the floor and then collect the pieces to rebuild. We can face the devistation of betrayal and a broken heart and learn. We can feel lost and abandoned and find the love of friends and family standing behind us. We can lose the things that made up our lives only to find that there is beauty in rebuilding, in connecting in the small things. We can decide the direction we want to take and who we want to be!

We can feel as though we are lost and wandering alone in a great forest only to realize we have merely strayed off the path we thought we were meant to take. But in taking stock of what is around us, we find beauty in the unadulterated nature we find ourselves in. We can bask in the light that finds its way through; we can inhale the possibilities. We can choose to get back on the original path or we can create an entirely new one – the choice becomes ours!

None of this is easy though and it takes hard work.
It takes a willingness to face your flaws and acknowledge them. It takes a willingness to say “I can’t do this alone” and ask for help. It takes the strength to pick yourself up off the floor (or even just to get out of bed) when you feel like you can’t go any further. It means taking ownership of the things that cause the pit in your stomach to open up. It means humbling yourself and being brutally honest with yourself. It means creating a life that is for you and you alone. It means doing those things that make you proud, no matter how hard. It means living life for yourself. It means loving yourself for who you are – flaws and all.

But if you can do these things, then you can do any thing – and that is the most beautiful thing of all.