What I'm Thankful for: Day 3

Today was a long and difficult day. What do I mean by difficult? Let's just say I found myself in class go from extremely happy and joyful to freezing cold, shaking violently, and running out of the classroom. Yes, something triggered this change in my thyroid, to my pituitary gland, then to my sympathetic nervous system.

When you have days like these, it's almost as if you have way more to be thankful for. These moments, these events, lead you to realize what you have or don't have and who is there for you, and who isn't. Today, I have a lot to be thankful for. Out of all the things I can be thankful for today, I am choosing to be thankful for....

Pain.

The feeling when your heart is slowly breaking into pieces. When you parents get into a car accident. When the president you didn't vote for gets elected. When you drop your ice cream on the ground. When you can't have what you want. When you get punched in the face. When you get diagnosed with cancer. When you stub your toe. When you lose everything....EVERYTHING.

PAIN. PAIN. 

To FULLY understand Life. Love. Joy. Happiness.... you need to feel the opposite emotion. Like religious people say, "To find your life you must lose it." When you've felt a broken heart, you recognize a healthy, happy one. You understand peace and love more after you've been hurt. You know I spent 14 years of my life thinking I knew what love was. When I turned 14 and moved into a new environment, with new guardians, with a new life, I learned a different kind of love. It wasn't until then that I realized I didn't know love at all. I also couldn't appreciate the love my new guardians had to offer me unless I had gone through the worst before hand. 

Comparisons. Hot, cold. Up, down. They are completely opposite, but still somehow connected, somehow linked. I can't be thankful for love and joy, if I can't be thankful for pain. I wouldn't understand love if I didn't understand pain. 

Understanding. That's the key. 

What are YOU thankful for?