Loneliness can be toxic; it evokes revelation and sensory overload, all the while paralyzing you in isolation that only seems to impound itself. Loneliness’s purpose is invaluable though; it reminds us of our need for others.
No matter how full our lives may be, or how extroverted we are, we will all wallow in the pit at times. I know this to be true, for I wrestled with the concept myself last night, struggling to accept that when you write a blog on positivity, you are permitted to have a bad day, or a sad day.
Admitting that I was in bed at 7pm on a Friday night is as much of a shock to myself as it might be to anyone else. It was an inexplicably emotional, and yet uneventful day, and it whooped me in more ways than one. A wise loved-one told me that you can lose a couple of battles without losing the war, and he is right.
We all have thorns in our side. Thorns that will always grow back, challenging us to be on our toes, ready for battle. From a thorn comes a rose, and from a rose comes a thorns the old adage says, and a rose without thorns doesn’t make sense. Nor does life without its challenges.
While we might not like the particular challenges set before us, or the thorns that seem to relentlessly haunt us, they are what form us. Without them, we don’t make sense. Without my thorns — a past of eating disorders, assault, and emotional abuse — my present would be closer to a weed than the rose that it is. Give thanks for your pesky thorns, and applaud yourself every time you go to battle with them, for each battle is an opportunity to come out better than you have before.