The Pain Is Real

If you have ever stepped away from anything your body had grown used to, you know that the first stretch is the hardest. Your body misses what it had. It does not yet know what it is building toward. It only knows that something is gone. This is what you are walking through.

You may notice intense waves of longing, sudden floods of feeling, sleeplessness, a heaviness that is hard to name. You may catch yourself replaying conversations, imagining what to say, finding small reasons that look almost like good reasons to reach out. These are not signs that you are failing. They are signs that you are in the early stretch.

Persistent or severe physical symptoms deserve real attention — your body has been carrying a lot, and the stress response can mask or worsen other conditions. Do not dismiss what your body is telling you. Care for it like you would care for someone you love who was going through something hard. Because that is what is happening.

For some people, the pain in this stretch becomes severe enough to bring thoughts of suicide, self-harm, or a sense that "I cannot survive feeling this." If that is where you are right now, please reach out before you act: 988 (call or text) for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 741741 (text HOME) for Crisis Text Line, 1-800-799-7233 for the National Domestic Violence Hotline, or 911 if you are in immediate danger. Calling for help is not failing. It is choosing to survive long enough for the pain to pass.

The pain eases. The longing softens. One day, sooner than you can picture from inside the storm, you will notice that hours have gone by without thinking of them. Then days. The storm does not stay a storm forever.