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When someone is drowning, it isn't the time to teach them how to swim.

Imagine reaching for someone’s hand as you’re slipping beneath the water, your lungs burning, your arms exhausted, only to have them stand on the shore explaining how you should have learned to swim.

You try to tell them you’re tired, that you’ve been fighting the current for longer than they know, but they keep just telling you how to swim. So you stop asking. You turn back toward the water and use whatever strength you have left to keep your head above it.

I wonder how many of us have felt that kind of loneliness.

How many times have we finally admitted that life is becoming too heavy, only to be met with advice we already know by heart? We are told to set boundaries, find perspective, think positively, take better care of ourselves. And maybe they’re right. Maybe we do need all those things. But knowing how to save yourself and having the strength to do it are two very different things.

Especially when you’ve spent years being the one everyone else reaches for.

The nervous system reminds us that survival takes energy. When someone has been under prolonged stress, their body may remain on high alert even after the immediate danger has passed. The mind becomes occupied with getting through the next moment, leaving less room for reflection, connection, or learning something new.

And still, we ask people who are barely holding on to listen to another lesson.

There will be time to talk about swimming. Time to understand the currents that pulled them under, to learn from the storms, and perhaps find the courage to trust the water again.

But right now, they’re tired. Tired in ways they may never find the words to explain. And if they’ve spent their whole life being the one who reaches into the water for everyone else, imagine how much it took for them to finally reach for you.

Take their hand. Help them find their footing. Let them rest without reminding them how far they still have to go.

Just a few thoughts for the day.

~ The Body Artisans

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https://t.me/SpirtualAscension 🤎