This piece reaches somewhere very true and very needed. The passage about how few people can truly sit with grief strikes at the very core of our modern wound. We live in a world that celebrates performance, speed, distraction, and endurance, yet often turns away from sorrow, vulnerability, and the sacred work of witnessing one another. Your words about needing witnesses name something essential: healing so often begins not in fixing, but in being seen. And the line about our heart muscles atrophying as a collective is especially powerful—it captures how emotional numbness has become normalized, even rewarded. This is such an honest and necessary reflection on what real strength may actually be.
Thank you. Yes, we fear vulnerability, many of us for good reason, but it is also the path to connection and true strength. Appreciate your thoughts on this, and thank you so much for sharing.
As always eloquently written and deeply felt. As you said our society is based on ignoring and normalizing pain and hiding struggles. Living in the reality of grief and emotion is seen as a negative, sometimes weakness. Sitting in the reality of loss and grief is hard for people seeing it often because they can’t acknowledge it for themselves. Your writing and teachings us about the hard parts of life brings a light to all who know you and read your hard earned wisdom. Thank you, Samia
Samia, I so agree with you…yes, it takes grit and determination to push ourselves to those physical goals, and it is right that the efforts it takes are recognised. What is missing, though, is the awareness of other quieter and unseen work happening under our noses. Those who are deeply grieving yet finding the inner strength to keep going when life has dealt the hardest of blows.
We must get better at noticing. Not just the loud things. The quiet, unwitnessed bravery that is all around.
This piece reaches somewhere very true and very needed. The passage about how few people can truly sit with grief strikes at the very core of our modern wound. We live in a world that celebrates performance, speed, distraction, and endurance, yet often turns away from sorrow, vulnerability, and the sacred work of witnessing one another. Your words about needing witnesses name something essential: healing so often begins not in fixing, but in being seen. And the line about our heart muscles atrophying as a collective is especially powerful—it captures how emotional numbness has become normalized, even rewarded. This is such an honest and necessary reflection on what real strength may actually be.
Thank you. Yes, we fear vulnerability, many of us for good reason, but it is also the path to connection and true strength. Appreciate your thoughts on this, and thank you so much for sharing.
As always eloquently written and deeply felt. As you said our society is based on ignoring and normalizing pain and hiding struggles. Living in the reality of grief and emotion is seen as a negative, sometimes weakness. Sitting in the reality of loss and grief is hard for people seeing it often because they can’t acknowledge it for themselves. Your writing and teachings us about the hard parts of life brings a light to all who know you and read your hard earned wisdom. Thank you, Samia
Thank you, Betsy for your continued support and guidance.
Samia, I so agree with you…yes, it takes grit and determination to push ourselves to those physical goals, and it is right that the efforts it takes are recognised. What is missing, though, is the awareness of other quieter and unseen work happening under our noses. Those who are deeply grieving yet finding the inner strength to keep going when life has dealt the hardest of blows.
We must get better at noticing. Not just the loud things. The quiet, unwitnessed bravery that is all around.
I'm heartsick for you. It takes a great deal of courage to write your tender words. Thank you, Samia, for your bravery.
Thank you so much for reading my work. It means a lot to me.
Grief is, indeed, a marathon without a training plan! Thank you for sharing your journey ♥️