Alone in the Dark

The only thing more disconcerting than feeling alone is realizing you’re alone; that no one out there exists with comprehension or compassion for the nuances of your experience. On your hardest days, the light of understanding may seem blotted out, as if you are adrift on an endless sea in the dark depths. But just as the stars trace a path in the night sky, so too can you find yours in these moments of deep loneliness.

On those days—when your thoughts echo like a barren hall and your search for support yields little to no reward—the only way through is to wrangle the visions racing through your mind. To look beyond the darkness, looking for something smoldering— a spark of possibility, amidst the smoke and despair. Deep breaths, exercised gratitude, and prayerful pondering of what might be—this is often enough to open up pathways around, through, and over the obstacle of self-centeredness and isolation.

Give yourself permission to feel whatever it is you’re feeling and take the time to explore why the intensity of those feelings has arisen. So often we just try to sweep those uncomfortable issues aside and arrange our lives to look tightly put together—but in truth it’s okay for us to feel lonely, especially on our hardest days. True healing works from the inside out, beginning with the rawest parts of ourselves. Allowing yourself to dwell in these lonely places can bring truths to the surface, shallow sorrows and reservoirs of joy that have been hidden away too long.

The moments when we feel most alone are perhaps some of the most essential for our growth, development, and edification. Sitting in this uncomfortable aloneness may reveal secrets long secreted away. These moments may also uncover within you core questions waiting to be addressed. Are there shifts just waiting to happen? Will they be painful but ultimately result in progress? Only you know your unique life’s path and only you can answer these difficult questions.

Amidst the loneliness, we can discover a strength that comes near only when life has cut us to our very core —the unchanging eternity of a divine and abiding love that looks out for us even in our darkest hour. It is here that we are reminded that we are never really and truly alone, regardless of how we feel in our hearts. Reach out and build a relationship with God, beyond the scope of our present understanding. Let Him into the darkness and bask in the knowledge of His ever-abiding presence. He will carry you through the night and grant new understanding to the morning after.

As you strive to move forward, pursuing your own power and working through your own wounds, remember that it is during our hardest days that we discover just how alone we can be, but also just how resilient we can be.