We all have known it. We know what it feels like — the sensation of being the only one.

We know that sometimes it feels like the worst feeling in the world.

We know that other times it comes out of nowhere and sweeps us off of our feet and keeps us from catching our breath. Those are the times that are unexpected.

Then there are times where it is so gradual that we don't know what to do with it. It's when things build up over time and eventually come crashing down while crushing our expectations when the moment is just right.

There are also times when certain things come back to pang us over and over again. The twinge we feel when a feeling resurfaces at the most inappropriate moment and the emotions overcome our logic and then the rest is lost.

We all feel it.

We all deal with it differently.

Our bodies process it accordingly.

The world is not perfect. In fact, it is so broken that most of the time we let it get to us.

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I don't always feel like I'm on the straight and narrow. I'm not easy to read a lot of the time. I don't make it particularly easy for the people in my life to truly know the depths of my feelings.

Why am I hesitant to jump towards the opportunity for people to get to know my heart? Why would I pass up the chance for someone to hold me accountable and love me so profoundly?

It's simply because I've known what it feels like to push so hard for something only for it to be unrequited or not understood on either side of the relationship. It makes me feel weak and broken in the sense that my efforts and feelings did not meet the condition for what I wanted to receive in my expectations.

So, when I feel the weight of the reality that shatters what I thought I once knew, I'm left with the assumption that no one else is going to understand how cut-off I feel from the world I believed I had a grasp on — which only leads to me convincing myself that I am totally and utterly alone.

As people, we commonly trick ourselves into thinking that we’re the only ones who feel that penetration of hurt because we feel isolated in whatever it is we’re sensitive to.

Most people don’t talk about their struggles because it makes us feel weak and vulnerable — targeted and helpless in the most obvious yet embarrassing way.

I understand this sensation because I’ve lived it. However, the past six months I’ve learned the difference between feeling lonely and actually being alone.

In all reality, loneliness comes from the isolation I sometimes surround myself with, and that feeling is what I run from the start of anything because I don't ever want to feel that way again.

We have all done it at some point in our lives. Hidden from the things we didn't want to acknowledge. Ran from the reality that was right in front of our faces the entire time.

In those moments, I didn't cry because I'm alone. I cried because I felt lonely--pushed away from the people and experiences I thought I knew, thrown off course by the current of life.

That loneliness was temporary. It's wasn't permanent. It isn't permanent.

It's the bad things of the world trying to cajole my perception that this feeling is going to last forever.

But, here's the thing:

I have lived through too much to just give up on whatever comes after the hard chapters of life. In fact, those difficult times have only given me hope and strength.

So, in the instances of temporary loneliness, I may be weak and unmotivated to move on. But with time, I've learned that I will be okay as long as I permit myself to process what I am entitled to feel for the uphill battles. However, I cannot allow myself to dwell on them because there will come a time when I have to move forward.

In moving forward, I know that I am alone in that I am whole all by myself and that that doesn't have to make me feel lonely.

Sure, there will be instants in the future where I will feel fleetingly forsaken, but as I acquire more time on this earth, I believe that the Lord's love and guidance are leading me alongside what his ultimate purpose for my life is.

Feelings of loneliness and sadness are fleeting, but His love is never-ending.

So I choose to look beyond the temporary things in this life.