I can think of quite a few times in my life that I needed people to hold space for me....to try and understand my pain, try and give me room, give me grace to wrestle it all....help me find my way back to every day life......back to a new version of me, be patient with me while I figure all of that out.......it is a powerful gift to give another human....that space.....that unspoken understanding.....the room they need to find their way back.......I feel like in each of these moments in my life...... times in my life.....I have needed the support of others and needed to be vulnerable in that pain, and share with those kind people that chose to be there.....chose to stand with me even when it was uncomfortable.......When my sister passed away, when Gabe was born prematurely, when my husband was diagnosed with cancer and I thought I may lose him, when I lost the people I loved fiercely, people that were a deep part of my heart, of my history, and now as I lose my marriage.....all of these are very different journeys, but all life changing in the biggest of ways.....all of them changing me forever....when we stand with people, accept them wherever they are, let them know we are here for whatever they need, we are sending a clear message of love and hope to a struggling soul....In each of these times in my life I felt my compassion for others suffering grow too.....I got to learn to stand in other's pain with them and not run away, or avoid it, because it was too uncomfortable.....accept the new versions of them that emerged on the other side.....and hope that they can accept , love, and care for the new versions of me that have emerged from those places of pain and growth.....I am feeling like the journey I am currently on is maybe the largest to date.....the most transformative, the one that requires the most from me.....and maybe from others.....much of it needs to happen alone, with just me doing the work I need to find my way back....nobody to rely on anymore, nobody to walk these big journeys with...just me.....and all the wonderful support I have received.....it will not be a short journey, it will be a marathon......and along my race to my new life I will need people to hold spaces for me......in many different ways, at different points, and in all sorts of spaces.......and when I reach the finish line.....or a finish line of sorts.....I will know that the people still left cheering me on, standing at that line with smiles on their faces, and compassion in their hearts and eyes, those are truly my people........
jperuso
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