Stronger

They tell you that you come out of tragedy stronger

But does that make it hurt any less?

It takes you years to work through your feelings

It’s been so long since you felt like your best

A pandemic begins and you can’t even see the people you love most

So many people without jobs are thinking “Where do I go from here?”

Some of them turn to new hobbies to get through it

Others turn to beer

After many months of assuming that “That’s Life” by Frank Sinatra is your theme song

You finally internalize the ways in which you’ve been strong

Being isolated really gives you time to think about what you really want in life

Thinking “Why don’t I deserve all the things I’ve always dreamed of?”

Finally, after years of sadness, you start to see everything in a new light

When you look back on yourself just a few years ago

You realize how much you have grown

There is so much that the past you could have never predicted or known

So you take it all in and acknowledge where you’ve been

And you think about the people that you lost and you let it all sink in

It never stops being painful, you just try to appreciate what you have

You tell your friends and family that you love them

And you realize how much you have overcome

You pick yourself out of the darkness

And you go out into your life with a new attitude

One where you fight for what you want

One where you believe in yourself

One where you take care of yourself

And one where you let your friends and family know how much you appreciate them

And when I start to feel sad

I think about how mad my dad would be that I’m wasting time being sad when I could be planning my next big adventure

He always loved a great adventure

So I brainstorm something new I could do

Instead of feeling so blue

But dad I never stop thinking of you

They tell you that you come out of tragedy stronger

But it doesn’t make it hurt any less