Pain Is Only Temporary, Remember That

Everything is temporary. The screen or page you are reading from. The chair you are sitting on. The bright blue sky that will soon fade into night. The kiss you feel on your cheek, warming your skin. The wind whistling through the trees. The hands and the gentle touch you exchange with another person.

All of this is temporary. All the beautiful moments that will cycle through as you continue to grow and change. And all the heartache, the misery, the brokenness, which will soon dissipate like dew with the morning sun.

Sometimes it’s terrifying to think of ourselves as impermanent, to imagine a world beyond this one we’re living, to wonder where we’ll go when we no longer walk this earth.

But as scary as that is, it’s comforting, too. Because it reminds us that no matter what we’re going through, no matter how heavy a burden laid upon our hearts, no matter how shattered and tired we feel—that breakage won’t last forever.

Pain is only temporary.

Pain is only temporary. Remember that when you don’t want to open your eyes. Remember that when your best friend scoots over at the lunch table so you can’t sit down. Remember that when you don’t have a date to the prom, when you get stood up, when you find your significant other texting someone else.

Remember that when your grandmother takes her last breath. Remember that when you have to put your dog down. Remember that when someone you trusted lies to your face and you feel stupid for believing them. Remember that when your marriage fails, when your child breaks his arm, when you aren’t sure who or what to believe in. Remember that when you don’t know if you can find the courage to face another day.

Remember that the way you feel right now won’t last forever.

Everything is temporary. These bodies. These emotions. These beating hearts. This is scary, yes. But liberating, too. Because it means we won’t be tied down forever. We won’t be shattered indefinitely. We won’t always fall victim to the harsh words and angry actions of those we love(d).

It won’t be like this forever. We won’t always wake up and miss him or her. We won’t always have dreams about our parents who passed, or be haunted by the demons of our sins. We won’t always hate ourselves, hate our lives, not want to continue.

Because in time, our pain will pass.

So please hold on. One more minute. One more hour. One more day. Find something that makes you smile—maybe a tiny thing, maybe a huge thing—and grab ahold it. Learn, second by second, why life is worth living, and remind yourself of this when you start to forget.

Push through. Fight. Tell yourself you can survive. Because you will.

And one day it won’t hurt as much. One day it won’t hurt at all. One day you’ll look back at what almost broke you, or what did break you, and you’ll see how you’ve grown stronger. How you’ve overcome. How you are so far from that darkness now you don’t quite remember how it feels to be without light.

One day you’ll see that pain is only temporary, and you’ll see that you always had the strength to carry through.

Marisa Donnelly is a poet and author of the book, Somewhere on a Highway, available here.