When you feel hopeless
Going under extremes of misery means that we are also able to extremes of joy
IT IS IN OUR DARKEST MOMENTS that we can inspire and uplift, reminding everyone that they are not alone in their struggles. When we are lost in the deepest stages of vulnerability, we find strength. In our pain, we discover the capacity to empathize and to touch the lives of others in ways we will probably never fully comprehend.
Raising the human spirit inside us is what I understood to be the mission of this writing journey, an accidental project that started without a clear objective but soon turned out to be a small contribution to elevate empathy on a global scale. The current circumstances in Ukraine are incredibly hard, crude and real, and precisely for these reasons they also work as a background to the spiritual evolution we are needing for so long.
It's nothing to do with religion or faith: it's all about respect, feeling each other's heart and wearing each other's shoes, as it goes the saying. Understanding that inside each of us lies an unbearable suffering at some point of our lives, sometimes in this exact moment. Sometimes, a whole existence of it.
Yesterday, to the war, I lost an old childhood friend who I didn't have contact with for a long time, but whom I'll never be able to see again. The weight of my emotions makes it difficult to articulate my expression, because they are rooted in my heart rather than in mere words. However, I think that accepting sadness is an essential part of the healing process.
It's painful, but it also brings a sense of power. The ability to have such extreme feelings is a real proof of life. It reminds me that going under extremes of misery means that we are also able to experience the extremes of joy, which only makes us more human instead of more miserable. We have never to forget our inherent resilience that helps us overcome even the most challenging conditions.
There is still a grain of determination that compels me to offer something, however small, to those who may find solace in our shared human adventure. When you feel hopeless or pessimistic, please try to grant yourself time to heal. Grief and loss cannot be rushed and there is no right or wrong way to navigate these emotions. Each individual's journey is unique, and the process of healing is different for everyone.
It is perfectly okay to feel overwhelmed during this time. Don't minimize the comfort provided by the physical presence of loved ones, and evaluate the option of professional support in some cases. The most important is knowing that healing is not a linear path. Instead, it is a complex and often unpredictable journey, but it always has a point of destination.
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So, with a heavy heart and fragmented words, I release these thoughts into the world, carrying the density of my sorrow and the hope that they may resonate with someone, somewhere.
May we embrace the complexities of life and never forget the knowledge that love, in its quiet triumph, always finds a way. Together, we can go to the depths of agony and emerge stronger, united by the indomitable power of the human soul.
Excellent article 👏 👍
May the good Lord Almighty hold you and all the people who are suffering losses of loved ones in the palm of his crucified hands and shine His everloving Presence upon all of us in our Journeys of loss and healing also 🙏 💙
As always, Slavi Ukraine 🇺🇦 always 🇺🇦 ✨️ 🙏 💖 always consecrated to the heart of Mary, mother of God bless all the people and victims of this senseless war 💔 of aggression, war crimes, and atrocities.
Perhaps her and her Son are more at work than anyone this side of Heaven will ever know ✨️ may we pray 🙏 it is so 🙏 ♥️
But Viktor, what happens when an entire people suffers so much that they find it difficult to go on? That is my biggest worry. Ukrainians have been through too much, really, and not just since 2014 and 2022, either. I am of course thinking about both the Soviet Union--the Holodomor and other horrors--and the Russian Empire. The desire to wipe Ukrainians from the face of the earth, in other words, is not new. You are a resilient people, yes. But there's no healing the loss of a friend, a child, parents, a husband, a wife, or grandparents, aunts, and uncles. What of the children who've lost one or both parents? There is no substitute for the love they received from their parents. There is no solace, even into old age.
I just received a book called "The Children of Katyn," by a Polish journalist who, after the fall of the Soviet Union, interviewed some of the children whose fathers were murdered by Stalin in 1940. Even as adults, they cannot find solace. One man thought that because he hadn't found his father's name on any of the records he'd looked at, he had to be alive, but just needed to be found. Then he found his father's name on a different list. The very fact that he could believe that his father might still be alive speaks of the depth of his sorrow. Psychologically he was still a child hoping that there must have been some mistake, that his father HAD to be alive.
That is what I worry about with Ukrainians. Let us hope that all of you can still find it within yourselves to continue after all of this is over.