Puddles

Nature inspires me quite often. I like to think its God's way of communicating with me.

I think He works like that a lot through his creations. Even a puddle of water can be quite inspiring if you let it.

On my journey of healing and doing my best at evolving as a human I've learned nothing is set in stone.

I was walking on a trail the other day near a river here in Missouri. It had rained the day before but since summer is approaching water was evaporating quickly off the pavement besides a couple of puddles that were inevitably avoidable.

I was feeling anxious I remember and as I trotted through the puddle not caring to avoid getting my shoes wet, I started praying -asking God to help me not have an anxiety attack in the middle of this walk.

Staring down at my feet as I walked, I noticed my shoe prints leaving a wet water mark on the hot dry pavement. I looked back and saw as the distance increased from the puddle to where I stood now, the shoe prints became less and less visible.

My brain then corr

elated the evaporating shoe prints with pain. Why? Idk haha

I actually started to bring me some peace. I was seeing that pain comes and goes. Sometimes its drenched, soaked and you're standing right in the middle of it- like a puddle of water. But as the days go on, as you go about your life, fight, walk, trod or crawl the pain gets less and less.

However, sometimes out of the blue we hit another puddle and the pain hits fresh. When that happens, to m

e at least, I get frustrated and angry. I start thinking "I thought I processed this already! I was healed! Why is this so painful again and why now?"

I tend to be hard on myself and I know there are many others like me out there. Listen, we aren't perfect and NEVER WILL BE. Just because we've processed something once doesn't mean we wont have to do it again later. The pain may hit at different times in our life, or even in new ways. Don't ever let someone else tell you how you should be processing or how far along you should be. Everyone is different.

Now am I saying we ought to just stand in that puddle, wading and never leave it? No. Sitting in the same pain for too long, whether because we're afraid of whats on the other side or maybe you've grown comfortable in sitting in the pain isn't healthy either. Seeking therapy or advice from a trusted friend who has your best interest at heart is a good idea. Don't ever let yourself or anyone else tell you where you should be in your journey or healing process.

Remember, like wet shoe prints evaporating on the pavement, the pain too will evaporate. Doesn't mean you will forget it- you didn't forget the once wet shoe prints that are no longer visible they just aren't fresh anymore.

I hope this odd analogy was helpful to someone out there struggling with this. Life has puddles and life has nice dry land- its going to be something we all deal with in different capacities. Don't be afraid to stand in the puddle, walk through it, or even stomp and dance around in it.

#Makeupforthesoul #puddles #pain #life #healing #joy #peace