A while back I read an article in Runner’s World that talked about the pains of running — and embracing them.  The author mentioned living in the moment, taking it all in and how pain can be a way of letting you know you’re still alive.

I think back to that often when I’m faced with difficult times.  Typically all I want to do is get away, to escape, to have everything return to “normal”.  I don’t like pain — I don’t think any normal person does — but I don’t have to like it to embrace it.  Pain is an invitation to grow stronger.  Accepting that invitation will be painful, but the alternative is not a “normal life” but a stagnant one.

Take a deep breathe.  Take it all in and realize that you are alive!

“Anyone who is among the living has hope — even a live dog is better off than a dead lion! For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, and even the memory of them is forgotten. Their love, their hate and their jealousy have long since vanished; never again will they have a part in anything that happens under the sun.” — Ecclesiastes 9:4-6