LIFE HAPPENS

Forest Gump once said, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get." Well, Forest, I've got to disagree. It's not that I think life is inherently bad. I’m a glass half full kind of girl who prefers to seek good even in the darkest of situations because why not? Life's good. God's good. Seriously good. But sometimes life throws you for a loop. Or life takes a different course than the one you expected. And in those negative, unexpected times it's like your foot is covered in the stinkiest of shit and you can't possibly manage to wipe it clean. Maybe it's not just your foot, in fact, it's more like stinking sand and life smells worse than a steamer fresh from your dog’s putrid ass.

My shit storm hit before I became a teenager. Mum died, there was a baby to cater for and before the teen years were over, dad got sick. The economy tanked. I was in the university and missing home deeply. Anxiety set in at a new, obsessive-compulsive level. The scale reflected a weight higher than I’d previously seen. Left, right, up, down: life was messy. So much so, I lost my desire to look for the silver lining and sat miserably in the pain of it all. The shittiest part of it all: I did so in a void of friends, closet worrying.

Stepping in shit is ugly and painful and disgusting. But doing so within a community of people who can say, “Yes, I’ve been there. I’ve felt that feeling too. I’ve conquered those demons despite my hopelessness” is so unbelievably redemptive.

The dark moments filled two lonely and longing years of my life, but I know now, they were for this. For me to tell you: vulnerability is right and beautiful. For me to tell you: you have permission to be emotional, uncomfortable, and downtrodden. You can sit in the shit and process it and feel deeply. But, do it with one another. You owe it to yourself and to that lovely person beside you – but get o’er it quickly, too.

My deepest of convictions say we were made for one another. Existing in a void, missing out on companionship, feeling lonely and sad is robbing yourself of life’s greatest joy. So, just be, but be in a company of people who will stand beside you and lift you up when it feels too much.

We need to hold onto those who love us most in the shittiest of times. We need each other to get through life. Just be. Still. Clingy. Emotional. Whatever it is, be it here and now and with a friend.