When Healing Feels Heavy

 

I mean that in every way, including physically. I've been going to a chiropractor, and it's incredible what a difference it's made for me. You just don't know how tense and twisted up you are until you start to release some of that.

 

I think the same is true for us on an interior level. So many of us carry the weight of things we cannot see. We struggle and wonder why. And when something eventually provokes us to lay down our burdens, we wonder why it feels so difficult to do so.

 

 

Sometimes that weight becomes so much a part of us that we can't detach from it completely, at least not immediately. But that doesn't mean it can't be redeemed. We may not be able to erase our scars, but we can have hope that something beautiful will come from them.

 

I'm starting to understand that healing, too, can be painful. Just ask my neck after it's been adjusted. 😬 The more we try to escape suffering, the more we delay healing. 

 

 

At some point in my life, I came to believe, deep inside of me, that if I ever disagreed or spoke up, I would be in grave danger. 

 

So from a young age, I started losing sight of who I really was, what I really wanted or liked or disliked, because I was focused on blending in, and even disappearing completely, in order to feel safe.

 

Now, in healing from this disconnect, I have to face the discomfort of getting to know myself for real.

 

 

The burden of feeling estranged from myself is one that I still carry, and it's grown on me to such a degree that it's difficult to set it down. But I have hope that heaviness can become light and even scars can be made beautiful.

I'm learning to ease into the pain of healing, to joyfully choose to accept the suffering required for growth. 

 

 

That's what this piece, "Glory in the Storm," is all about. It's a reminder that some of the most beautiful things bloom from the moments when we decide to ease into our pain instead of ignoring it. And if we can let others in to weather those storms with us, all the better.

 

When you feel like you're carrying the weight of the world on your back, this piece is here to remind you that you're not alone and that your pain is not in vain. The very burden you carry will become beautiful if you don't shy away from it, but face it head on and carry it with grace.

 

This and other framed prints will be available starting Black Friday, Nov. 29. Collectors Club members will have access to an exclusive 24-hour discount.