Describing the Pain

This is another story in the #On Coming Alive series. I just took excerpts from one called "Six Breaths" by Megan Coker

...and I couldn't hold my breath any longer. Like a few friends remind me all the time: feelings demand to be felt. I gasped, and in with the air came all the emotional pain of fresh, first-timer grief.

It hurt. It hurt so badly, down deep in my bones. There's a permanent ache in the place my chest rises. Burning like ice as it came in through my nose, taking its time getting out through my mouth. It hurt. But is also felt so good.

I had to let it in. I had to catch the ugly, awful, gut wrenching breath that meant I would go on living without my only baby. And I had no idea that this would mean the beginning of my life, because in that moment I was sure that it would mean the end.

I'm alive. That doesn't mean I'm all "better". That doesn't negate the pain. It just means there is still something good to live for.