Night Time Thoughts

Tonight, I went running after work. And I ran hard, and I ran fast, and I hurt. I ache and I'm sore and I'm tired and...I hurt.

But that's nothing new.

I hurt everyday. I hurt because I grow and pain is growth. Whether it's a simple as you workout, you lift, you skate, you run, you tear your muscles, they heal, they grow. Or as complex as you exercise your mind and spirit, you dig deep inside yourself, dig up things you never wanted to see again, you hurt, you heal, you grow.

We are all seedlings. Planted in unstable and unfair soil. Left to find our own paths towards the light. We reach a point, we break through the cold and unfeeling earth, and we see that light for the first time. That potential that exists in all of us, and we want more. We spend the rest of our forevers reaching toward the light. We get trampled and stepped on. We face monsoons and dry spells. We become broken and crippled and bent and are never the same. But we keep reaching. Because if we don't, we will cease to exist. We keep reaching because we have to. We have to nurture the mind, body, and heart. Defeat is not an option. To stop growing is the definition of death. It's why we are surrounded everyday by the living dead. Upright, erect, and breathing. It takes more to live than simply being alive.

Make it worth it. Keep reaching. Never stop growing. There will always be a light, and maybe we will never reach it, but it is the struggle and the sacrifice we make just to even get close that makes it worth it. That shapes who we are and it gives us something to push against, to fight for, and helps us find our own meaning against the landscape of cold, indifferent stars.