I don't know if this ever happens to you, but it definitely does for me: I'll be really struggling with something and I'll start to wonder if there's something wrong with me for struggling the way I am. I'll look around and, of course, everyone else seems to have it all together and that makes me feel even worse. Because then, not only am I going through something hard, but I also feel ashamed of my struggle, which leaves me feeling even more isolated than ever.
But the thing that has helped me more than anything else when I'm struggling is getting to hear that I'm not alone.
Hearing that someone else has been there, has struggled the way that I'm struggling, it changes everything. It shows me that how I feel is valid, it's real, and that I'm not crazy, or stupid, or weak for feeling this way.
But it's more than that.
To know someone that has struggled the way that I am and has made it to the other side, it brings me the hope I need to keep moving. I may not be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but knowing that she has seen it helps me believe that it'll be there waiting for me too. And that makes all the difference.
That's the heart behind the "&." I love this symbol so much. I love what it represents both in my little family and for us, as a community, in our little corner of the internet.
And so friends, whenever you see this symbol, may it remind you that:
You’re not alone in what you’re going through & you don’t have to go through any of life alone.
