Breathe

It will pass. You can do this.

Sometimes life becomes so heavy that thinking about tomorrow feels like too much.

There are decisions to make. Problems to solve. People depending on you. Bills that still need to be paid. Children who still need you. Work that still needs to be done. Phone calls to make, appointments to attend, paperwork to complete, and questions you don’t yet know how to answer.

And somehow, while everything around you demands action, you are also trying to survive what is happening inside you.

Breathe.

Not because breathing will fix everything.

Not because the situation isn’t serious.

Not because you should pretend everything is going to be okay when you don’t yet know what okay will look like.

Breathe because you are still here.

Sometimes the crisis becomes so consuming that it convinces us we have to solve our entire lives at once. We look at everything ahead and wonder how we will possibly make it through.

You don’t have to make it through all of it today.

You only have to make it through this moment.

Then the next one.

And then the one after that.

It will pass.

That can be difficult to believe when you are standing in the middle of something that seems endless. Crisis has a way of distorting time. A difficult day feels like it will never end. A painful season begins to feel like it will become the rest of your life.

But seasons change.

Circumstances change.

People change.

You change.

What feels impossible today may look very different six months from now, a year from now, or several years from now.

That does not mean everything will resolve exactly the way you hope. Sometimes the life waiting on the other side looks nothing like the life you thought you were fighting to preserve.

It can still be good. Maybe even better than you can imagine from where you are standing today.

You can do this.

You may not feel strong right now. That’s okay.

Strength does not always look like confidence.

Sometimes strength is getting out of bed.

Sometimes it is making the phone call you’ve been afraid to make.

Sometimes it is asking for help.

Sometimes it is setting a boundary.

Sometimes it is crying and then continuing.

Sometimes it is admitting that you don’t know what to do next.

Sometimes it is simply deciding that today, you will not give up.

There may be moments when you need other people to remind you of what you cannot see for yourself.

Let them.

Let someone sit beside you.

Let someone help carry what has become too heavy.

Let professionals bring expertise where expertise is needed.

Let people who understand remind you that your reactions make sense.

Let people who care remind you that your crisis is not the entirety of your life.

You do not have to prove your strength by carrying everything alone.

And while you are navigating the serious things, remember that you are still allowed to live.

Laugh when something is funny.

Enjoy your coffee.

Watch the sunset.

Play with your children.

Listen to music.

Take the walk.

Celebrate the small victory.

Rest when you can.

These moments do not mean you are ignoring your circumstances. They mean your circumstances have not been allowed to consume every part of you.

There is still life happening, even here.

There is still beauty, even here.

There is still hope, even here.

One day, you may look back at this season and realize that the thing you were certain would break you did not.

You made decisions you didn’t know you could make.

You survived days you didn’t know you could survive.

You found resources you didn’t know existed.

You discovered people who were willing to walk beside you.

You learned things about yourself you could never have learned in easier circumstances.

And slowly, perhaps almost imperceptibly, life began moving again. Until then, don’t demand that you have all the answers. Don’t require yourself to see the entire road.

Just find the next step.

And when even that feels like too much, come back to the simplest thing you know how to do.

Breathe.

This moment will not last forever.

This crisis does not get to write the rest of your story.

It will pass.

You can do this.