I know it’s so unbearably hard.

I know it breaks your heart with an ache that goes all the way to your fingertips and makes it hard to focus your eyes.

I know it’s making you question all the choices you’ve made and your ability to make future ones.

You’re trying to do the right thing, but it. does. not. feel. right. At all.

If I could, I’d wave a big, ol’ magic wand and change all the factors in your life so this one thing can’t hurt you anymore. Your pain is so big, I feel it over here.

Here’s something else I know. You’re going to make it.

It sounds so trite to say, but you’ll have to take my words for it. I’ve seen you face down giants. I’ve seen you move mountains. I’ve seen you cross that bullet-filled No Man’s Land with your battle face on.

This is not the thing that’s going to break you. You make it through this.

You aren’t alone in this, you know. Do you hear all of us chanting your name, cheering you on? We’re not mere spectators here, we’re all running our own races, fighting our own battles, but we see you. You’ve helped so many others. You’ve shown us that life isn’t over when it seems to go off-track.

Now, I can’t tell you exactly how, or when the fog will lift to let you see the way out. It will, though. It always does. You’ll eventually see the next step and you’ll be brave enough to take it and on and on. One day you’ll look back and see what you came through and you’ll see the strength in yourself that I see now.

I see you. I love you. I’m here, saying these words to you as firmly as I can across these interwebs. Read it all again if you need to, 100 times if you need to until you believe it.

I know you’d say these same things right back to me. I know just how amazing you are, always have been, and that you will get through this, pain and all.