I couldn’t find the joy, I couldn’t see the good, I couldn’t join the laugh. I knew, saw and heard them all, but they seemed so far away. Lost in the thick fog, another world moving by as I sat and moved so slow. My mind lost to a world of worry, a sadness of darkness. So I wrote in hopes to find a way, through art as we often do. Through the walls that creativity does not see.

Writing with clenched hands and tense eyes, shoulders tightened with the pain of the day. Putting the hurt onto the page. Pouring the fear through the ink. Leaving the slow motion, leaving the pain. Turning inside once more so as to be just me. Who I am, where I am, without the world that would hurt me, the world that would put me aside when I don’t conform.

Here on the page, I find the connected hearts, like veins of plants reaching out to share and bond.

I dig deeper, I reach taller, I breathe once more as me. The strength of me returns to see the light. I left my wilted spirit and hear the laughter once more. The edges of my mouth turn to a smile in the goodness of simplicity. My heart feels it’s own warmth again in the joy within me.

My friend, some days are simply hard. Some days we just plain hurt. Some days we need to know we are connected and yet still feel our own. Some days we need to be.

If you are having a day like that, I hope this message finds you. Maybe you can’t find the peace in the moment given where you are, who is around or what is going on. I hope though, in the minutes to read this, you may find the calm that leads you back to you. For you are the joy the world needs, the uniqueness of you.