The Light That Holds You Up

The afternoon stretches out, a long, flat line of endurance where the pain feels less like a visitor and more like the furniture you have to live around. You are carrying a weight that never sleeps, and the middle of the day is the hardest part because there is no promise of rest yet, only the demand to keep moving.

But there is a light inside you that does not tire when your body does. It does not dim when your strength fades.

It is not dependent on your ability to function or to perform okayness for the world. The light is not a reward for getting through the pain — it is the ground you stand on while the pain rages.

You do not have to generate it. You only have to remember that it is already there, holding you up when your own muscles cannot.

The struggle is real, but it is not the whole story.