Life layers us with callouses, yet we remain so fragile. So breakable. So vulnerable to so many, many things.

Sometimes we experience a slow crush without even realizing it. Then one day it hits us.

Bam!

Burnout. Blackout. Time-out!

Having spent a few decades on the Earth, I am convinced life goes in cycles. We go up, down, even sideways. But we are always moving, even when we feel we are not.

Standstills suck. And for anyone who has experienced a major stuck-in-the-mire moment in their lives, it can give you the sense that things will never get better. That time is creeping by. That you will never, ever see daylight again.

But then somehow the sun nudges its way through the clouds — one day — rather unexpectedly. If you have spent your stuck-in-the-mire moments on some level of self-reflection, making space for that new thing to come barreling through, you will see it. If not, you may pass the very chance you have been waiting for.

See how fragile we are? Our greatest opportunity might be looking us square in the eye, and yet we are often blind to it. Because we do not have the glasses to see.

Our vision changes as we evolve through time and space. We tear off one pair of glasses for another. Sometimes we wear rose-colored glasses that make everything look bright and cheery. Sometimes we wear 3D glasses, where everything seems to be coming at us so fast. Other days we wear bifocals, sliding from one line of vision to another, but seeing clearly both near and far.

Bifocal days are the best, in my view. Clarity helps  work against our fragility, giving us stable ground upon which to tread, even in the darkest of nights.

So my dear ones. Never fear. You are not alone in your struggles and confusion. We all experience days (and nights) of weakness. The good news is there are about nine billion others to whom you can reach out in times like these. I’m one of them.

We are all in this together. Never, ever forget that.