Grief is a Mountain

Grief is a mountain.

It’s steep. It’s tall. It makes you lose your breath when you try to climb. It can be treacherous, leaving you stumbling or hanging on for dear life. You could plummet thousands of feet below. Rocks can tear your clothes, or you can get caught on branches and remain stuck. You can be so close to the top and hope escapes your grasp. Hope runs away, wild and free from you. It leaves you shattered in tears. You can’t do this. You can’t make it.

But, you can.

You can make it to the top. You can do this. For, this mountain is a step to relief on the other side. You will have to cross many mountains in life. You will have to be constantly overcoming and adapting and surviving. This mountain might be the most treacherous right now, the most exhausting, but eventually it will get smaller. The mountains on the other side are smaller, each one after the other. The range might never end, but the pain gets smaller.

Grief is a mountain.

What is your grief mountain? Is it years of tall mountain ranges? Is it finally becoming sloping hills? Or, is it a new and sharp mountain, full of thorny brambles and black clouds? Whichever mountain you are facing, you are able to climb higher than you think.

Mountains of grief can be especially difficult at specific times of the year. It could’ve been their birthday, an anniversary, or maybe it’s the holidays. All you want is for them to be there. You wish, wonder and want. You imagine and wish you didn’t imagine. Consequently, harsh reality sets in, even if you don’t want to accept it. Reality can be an avalanche on a mountain. It can set you back, make you start over from where you began. That’s when you have to pause. Breathe for a minute. Think. What would they do? What would they say? They would tell you to keep going. They’d tell you, “you can do this.” They would tell you they love you.

That’s how you can climb. Remember they love you. Be thankful, even if it is hard, for the time. You can be thankful for the memories. Be thankful for the laughs, tears, and joy. And, above all, be proud of yourself for being able to love so deeply. With great love comes great pain, as the saying goes. Therefore, it is an inevitable feeling but is worthwhile. Love and pain go hand in hand. All it means, is you have a good heart and a caring soul. You are more than you think you are. They saw you as more than what you think of yourself.

Everyone, at some point in time, will experience what you are experiencing right now. Everyone will understand what it feels like to face a mountain. The mountains can take different shape per person, and throw more roadblocks along the way, but everyone will experience mountains. That means that you are not alone. You have a support system. You can do this. This mountain doesn’t have to loom over you, you can overcome it.

Grief is a mountain. But you don’t have to let that stop you.