Monroe Dispatch - No Struggle, No Progress

I remember the feelings I had when I was younger and experienced heartbreak, embarrassment, or shame, and thought surely my world is about to end or that I would never be able to recover. I felt the pain of what I experienced was so great that it would paralyze me, and I would no longer have the desire to do the things I did in the way that I did them ever again. I remember reliving everything in my head, over and over, seeing people laugh or taunt me. I could even hear people’s commentary, and that made it worse. When my grandmother was alive, we would often have conversations, and she would say a simple phrase, “Just keep living.” Sometimes my trauma would be so great I would get angry at her passive approach to my problems, but the more I heard her say it, the more I understood it. Every time she said the phrase, it was a reminder that things would always happen. And they definitely did! Embarrassment, heartbreak, or shame have never ceased in my life, but those three words have helped me tremendously. Through them, we gain an understanding that things will happen, but we cannot stop living our lives. Things do not always work out in the ways we intend. Be courageous enough to keep on living!