Tearing Down Walls

I remember a friend, a long time ago, who needed knee surgery. All the doctors recommended it, she knew she needed it, but she refused. She couldn’t stand the idea of letting someone in- of dismantling her weakest points. More than that, she didn’t like the idea of how much work the rehabilitation would be. So, in all her infinite wisdom, she left it. She reinforced the weakness with braces and tape and tried to carry on like there was nothing wrong. But life isn’t that simple, and while it may buy a little time, we can’t get away with ignoring these things forever.

Eventually, it doesn’t matter how hard you try to protect the weakness, it’s still there, hiding under the protective barriers, and it will eventually break… which is a lesson my friend learned all too well.

Sometimes things have to be taken apart to be fixed and sometimes we have to break a little to get better. Our first instinct is always to protect our weaknesses and to ignore the things we don’t want to see or deal with. We want to hide them away and pretend they’re not there, but we can’t ignore them forever- they have a way of forcing us to pay attention.

Tearing down walls and exposing nerves is painful and working to rebuild is a difficult and often uncomfortable process. You may need help. You might even have to show people your vulnerable side- but when it’s over… No more weakness, No more walls, just a scar to remind you of something that once was.

Image by geralt from Pixabay