The journey of healing is an absolute rollercoaster, ups, downs, twists & turns. We'll never fully understand anyone's pain unless we are living in their shoes, but we can try to understand. What I've been through might not seem like much to another, what someone else has been through might not seem like much to you, but pain still lives there. There will be days I can walk around like nothings wrong. I will get up for work each morning, I'll go out with my friends for a few drinks, I'll laugh along with them and smile for the photos. There will also be days where my pain will swallow me. I know whatever I've gone through might not have happened just yesterday, but today it might hurt like it did. I know I was fine just an hour ago and suddenly something hits my soft spot and I'm a wreck. The thing about healing is that we don't just gradually get better as time goes on, we get better as we accept things might not be as they were. Accepting that this is our new "normal" from what we've lost. We heal when we are faced with our hard days. Just because I'm happy doesn't mean I'm healed it means I'm coping. Today might be easy, tomorrow might be a disaster. The thing about healing is that no matter if we have 5 good days in a row, and 1 bad we didn't regress in progress, we've actually excelled. I'm sorry if I cry over my past, it doesn't mean I'm ungreatful for what I am blessed with, and if I'm ecstatic over a new endeavor it doesn't mean I've left my pain behind and suddenly it's forgotten about. Be patient with the people in your life who are healing from things they try not to burden you with. Just because we aren't talking about it doesn't mean it's not still eating at us. We're still working on it. Be gentle, be kind.