I don’t know you. I don’t know what you’re going through. I don’t know what you’re suffering from. But I know you’re going through something. Everyone is.
You’re going through something particularly painful. This is not your run-of-the-mill badness. This is nuclear badness.
Nobody knows about this situation, of course. You’re pretty quiet. You’ve kept it to yourself for a long time. But even the people you HAVE told can’t help you except to pat you on the butt and pity you.
But you don’t need pity. You don’t need inspirational words. You don’t need clichés. You don’t need to be told to let go and let God. Or worse: This too shall pass.
What you need is to get through this crap. You need this to be over, once and for all. You need to get back to normal life again.
Oh, what you wouldn’t GIVE to be normal again.
Maybe it’s a medical problem. Maybe it’s emotional. Maybe your kids have been taken away from you.
Maybe you’re like the woman who emailed me yesterday, whose son is going to prison for a crime he says he didn’t commit.
Maybe you’ve been told you’re dying. Maybe the doctors don’t give you a lot of options. Maybe you’re a pinball stuck in the Great American Medical System, bouncing from specialist to specialist, only to find out that they can’t tell you a cussed thing.
Maybe you’re the young man who messaged me last night, who said his father was murdered in a home invasion.
Maybe you’re a teenager, who emailed me this morning, whose parents are fighting all the time. There is a lot of screaming in your household. You can’t do anything but sit in your room, playing on your phone.
Maybe you’re in college and your girlfriend cheated on you. Maybe the adults in your life are telling you that time heals all wounds, and that you should just suck it up and get over it. Maybe you want to say to all these adults, respectfully, bite me.
Maybe you’ve been married for 25 years, and suddenly she tells you she’s not in love with you anymore.
Maybe the cancer has come back. Maybe breast cancer. Maybe, even though you’ve had a double mastectomy; even though they’ve subjected you to radiation and chemo; even though you’re eating right and exercising; even though you’re taking all the meds; your scans still came back positive.
I don’t know. And frankly, it’s none of my business.
What I do know is that it’s not over. Also, I know that there is a hidden strength, a bravery inside you which you have not BEGUN to tap into yet.
Yes, I know you think you’re sinking. Yes, I know you think it’s all over. I know you don’t think you’re able to handle this. I know you think you’re too weak to go any further.
But in your weakness, you will somehow be made strong. And in your lowest hour, there will be unseen forces surrounding you. They will lift you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will see. I promise.
When you get through this, you’ll look back at your own roller-coaster-of-a life, and you’ll laugh, wondering how in the hell you’re still alive.
And then you’ll sit down and write this.
2 comments
Julie Hall - January 19, 2024 12:34 pm
You are the best.
Diane Lum - January 20, 2024 1:18 am
I just finished reading Kinfolk…..honestly, I was unfamiliar with your name…you were recommended by a close friend who is actually battling cancer..the strongest , positive-thinking, faith-filled woman I know! I LOVED the book and can’t wait to get my hands on all of the others👍I love your humor and actually started underlining things to add to my personal arsenal! Hope you do not mind🤣 For ex. “Old enough to own an autographed Bible” one of many…anyway. Maybe this isn’t the right platform to say I am now an official Sean Dietrich fan! Can’t wait to get my hands on more of your literature. I also love to play music, keyboards…a hopeless lover of Little Feat, Eagles, Beatles, and Allman Bros….just to name a few of the hundreds! I assume you are an avid reader…if so..may I recommend ‘The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store’…I read that before I read Kinfolk…I enjoyed it so much…what a story…and just knew that the next book I read would be a let down…Nay Nay Nannette! Kinfolk was awesome! Thanks so much❤️