Stop Running

Stop Running

Why do we run?

Why are we afraid?

What do we think will happen?

Can we escape our pain?

Can we deny our suffering?

Will the world pause until we’re ready?

How often do we make life

more complicated than it is,

pretending the fantasy could be the reality?

But no matter where we go, there we are.

We carry our pain like a hundred-pound weight,

resenting it, hating it,

straining under its silent burden,

pretending it isn’t there.

But the more we resist,

the heavier it becomes.

So, stop.

Stop running.

Stop hiding.

Stop pretending.

Take your pain. Take your suffering.

Lay it before you.

Stop avoiding it.

Look at it.

Find out what’s inside.

Acknowledge its presence,

not as an enemy,

but as a part of you—

a part of where you’ve been,

a part of where you are.

Whatever this pain is,

whatever this suffering has been,

It has brought you here.

So do not deny it.

Do not run from it.

Greet it. Embrace it.

Say hello to it.

Understand it. Accept it.

See it for what it is.

It is not what holds you down.

It is not what keeps you from being who you are.

Your denial is.

Breathe in the reality of your suffering.

Breathe out a greeting to the thing you’ve feared.

For all this time,

you were only running from yourself.

And what you’ve been avoiding

is who you are becoming.

So, stop.

Recognize.

Embrace.

Accept.

And finally,

Be free.