Damon and I were sitting outside a cafe, with creamsicle in hand and a slice of lemon meringue pie between us. He set his spoon down, barely touching the pie. “I don’t know how much more I can take,” he said, looking away.
He took a deep breath and continued. “It’s everything at once. My marriage feels like it’s hanging by a thread. Work’s been chaotic and I’ve been skipping doctor appointments because, honestly, I’m scared of what I’ll hear. Additionally, my parents are getting older. Slower. They need more from me than I feel I can give.”
He paused, voice shaky but steady. “I just feel maxed out. Like I’m constantly failing someone.”
“Damon,” I said, “I know it feels like a lot right now—because it is a lot. You’ve made it through a hundred storms before this one. You’re still standing. Your track record for surviving chaos, pain and pressure? It’s 100%.”
He looked up at me, skeptical.
“I’m serious,” I said. “Every day you thought you couldn’t take any more—you did. Every time you thought you’d break, you bent. Here you are. That’s not nothing.”
He cracked a faint smile.
“We forget sometimes that resilience doesn’t look like victory laps. It seems like showing up on days you’d rather disappear. It looks like you’re still picking up the phone, checking in on your parents, still loving even when it’s messy. It looks like eating and daring to laugh, even when your world feels like it’s coming apart.”
Damon leaned back, “Honestly, Bob,” he said, “I didn’t even realize how much I needed to hear that. I’ve been running so hard I forgot how far I’ve come.”
“You’ve got more in you than you think,” I said. “Even on the days you don’t believe that, I will.”
He smiled, this time for real.
“Thanks, Bob,” he said. “For reminding me I’m not done yet.”
“To you, dear reader,”—if you’re feeling like the weight of everything is too much right now, pause. Breathe. Look at your track record. You’ve survived every bad day life has thrown at you so far. That’s not luck—that’s strength.
You’re still here. You’ve got this. You can do it—because you always have.
