A friend of mine wrote the piece below, called Ramblings in Pain. The entire essay is worth the read, but what stood out to me most today was the beginning and the end.
The opening…
There will be days when your heart will hurt
When your mouth will be dry
When your lips will be parched
When your torso will want to collapse
When you feel like you can’t take one thing more.
The closing…
There will be days like this
I promise they will come and you’ll want to run
I promise it will hurt more than you think you can handle
I promise the pain will go deep
I promise it is best not to face it alone.
As I read those words right now—within the context of this month’s APERTURE EFFECT campaign—they could not be more fitting. Hurting heads. Dry mouths. Parched lips. Collapsed torsos. There are surely days like this for those around the world without access to clean water. They’re called Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… They are their every day.
But I’m also struck by the closing: It is best not to face it alone.
There are those without clean water. And there are those who can help. And together—not alone—we can make the days like that become the days that were.
I hope you’ll join me.
Ramblings in Pain
There will be days when your heart will hurt
When your mouth will be dry
When your lips will be parched
When your torso will want to collapse
When you feel like you can’t take one thing more.There will be days when you screw up
And there is nothing you can do to fix it
And you lie awake at night staring at the ceiling
And you pray for help and get silence — only that
And you want to cry or talk or die— but you can’t.There will be days when you feel pain
Like you never imagined possible
Like a sledgehammer to your chest
Like drowning slowly in the cold ocean
Like you want to scream but you can’t.There will be days when that pain
Comes from your own mistakes
Comes from your own miscalculations
Comes from your misplaced expectations
Comes from your own miscommunications.There will be days when you must go dark
You must wait and wait and wait
You will most definitely want to quit
You will feel like a piece of shit
You will find no easy way out of it.There will be days and nights of deep mourning
When a night will be exceedingly long and dark
When daybreak offers no promise of help or light
When the promise of comforted mourners hurts
When you fear your reputation may never be restored.There will be days like this
I promise they will come and you’ll want to run
I promise it will hurt more than you think you can handle
I promise the pain will go deep
I promise it is best not to face it alone.