Tollbooths

Surviving takes a toll. Trauma, illness, and crisis have devastating affects on our lives, emotionally and physically. It weakens our bodies and spirits. It wears us down and wears us out. It can reduce us in form and function.

Survivors also pay a hefty toll in their struggles to survive. We lose part of ourselves. At times, we compromise and change to adapt to our situation. We give up things within ourselves in our attempts to continue to fight.

We find we are paying out more than we ever thought there was of us to give.

These tolls on us, and from us, can be truly costly and often feel too overwhelming to bear. But, we must continue to believe life is worth the price we are paying.

Many times when we take a great journey, there are tollbooths along the way. We hand over our toll to travel the road and get to our destination.

Surviving is no different.

Each day of our lives has a sunrise at the beginning and a sunset at the end. Both are beautiful to behold no matter what happens to us in between them.

Envision the path before you. See the journey as a whole and not just the tolls along the way.