Most things take time. Not only the best things, but the worst ones as well. The moments and memories that we wish we could erase altogether. The lessons, the failures, the heartbreaks, the downfalls, the things that do not fade, but flicker.

Scars do not heal overnight. And we as people, do not forget the things that break us, the things that change us for the better or for the worse sometimes.

So, I guess the real point is that healing takes so much effort and time than anyone ever tells you.

It’s not just one day, one night. You can’t piece yourself back together in a timely manner. You don’t have to save face in the ways the world tells you have to. 

Healing comes and goes in waves. One minute, you feel light and like you are finally better, and the next the weight settles into your chest.

But the thing about pain, the thing about regret and mistakes, is that they shape you. They make you who you are. Even if you can’t see it at the time, you are making your way through darkness to light.

Slowly but surely, you are learning that the past, the rough patches that you barely make it through, are allowing you to become fuller, stronger and wiser. They are giving you the freedom to become a bigger, brighter version of yourself.

And the way that you heal is entirely up to you. The important thing is that you actively make a choice. To get better and to do better and to be better.

It won’t look and feel the same to you as it does to someone else and that’s okay. It’s not supposed to.

You can heal from anything and everything, big or small. It could be a heartbreak, it could be a mistake. It may take days or months or years but the idea is that you take it one day at a time.

And you let yourself crumble because that’s the only way that you can rebuild.

Maybe you learn how to do it quickly or maybe you don’t. But the bare truth is that eventually you will heal and the real power is that it’s all up to you.

We are all stronger than we think, stronger than the bad things that happen to us.

It’s a choice that we make, not something we opt out of for fear of being uncomfortable.

Because change and growth, while it is messy for a while, it makes all the difference.

It’s up to you to make sure that you get where you need to be on your own terms. No one can tell you otherwise.

It’s all in your hands and trust me when I say that there is no one more capable than you.

Listen to Khaled Al Kammar on #SoundCloud