I was sitting in my office, dimly lit, head in my hands, disappointed.

Mostly in myself for letting the opportunity escape, because I had it.

I could have held on.

Instead I watched it slip away and in frustration, leaned back in my chair, looked up,

noticed a little rectangle of light

subtly bouncing around on the wall.

It had made its way from a small gap in the curtains,

completely breaking the uniformity of darkness.

Its presence,

signaling just how much exists

outside our periphery

during those tough moments.

Reminding me how much our darkest

days only remain

so long as we refuse

to let light in and how periods of longing are unavoidable.

But whether we lay down because of them or stack and stand upon them is up to us.

Now I don't know why what we need is hardest to grasp during our times of greatest vulnerability.

But I do know that we are capable of standing up, of lighting a match amidst the shadows of life.

I do know we are strong enough to take the curveballs and the complexity and not just exist with them,

but transform them into our stepping stones.

So often the endings we didn't think we wanted become the beginning we didn't know we needed.

...