Find a comfortable position.
You don't need to sit perfectly.
You don't need to be good at this.
Just be here.
Close your eyes if that feels okay.
If not,
Just soften your gaze.
Take a breath,
A real one,
Deep into your belly and let it out slowly,
Releasing whatever you've been holding today.
I want to start by acknowledging something.
If you're listening to this,
You're probably going through something hard.
Maybe it's been hard for a while and you're not sure how much longer you can keep going like this.
And maybe when you hear words like strength or gratitude,
Part of you wants to shut down.
Because right now you don't feel strong.
You feel depleted and gratitude feels impossible when you're just trying to survive.
I get it.
I'm not here to tell you to be grateful for your pain.
I'm here to help you see something you can't see from where you're standing.
Take another breath.
We're going to go slow.
I want you to think about everything you've handled in the last week.
Not the big things you accomplished,
Just the things you showed up for.
The mornings you got out of bed even though you didn't want to.
The conversations you had even when you felt empty.
The decisions you made even when you weren't sure.
The moments you kept going even when stopping felt easier.
You've been doing that every day even when it didn't feel like strength.
Even when it felt like barely surviving.
But here's the truth.
Survival is strength.
Showing up when you don't feel like it is strength.
That's courage you can't recognize because you're too close to it.
Think about the last time you watched someone you care about go through something hard.
Did you think they were weak because they struggled?
Or did you see their strength?
The fact that they kept going,
Kept trying,
Kept showing up despite everything.
You would see their strength but you can't see your own.
So let me reflect it back to you.
You are stronger than you feel.
The fact that you're still here,
Still trying,
Still willing to listen to this meditation.
That is evidence,
Not of perfection,
Not of having it all together,
But of resilience,
Of grit,
Of a deep capacity to endure that you don't even give yourself credit for.
Take a breath and let that in.
You are already doing the hard thing.
Let's go back further for a moment.
Not to dwell on the past,
But to remember something important.
You've been through hard things before.
Think about the hardest season of your life before this one.
Maybe it was years ago.
Maybe it was recent.
A loss.
A failure.
A betrayal.
Something that,
At the time,
You didn't think you'd survive.
You're here,
Which means you survived it.
You got through it,
Maybe not perfectly,
Maybe not gracefully,
But you made it to the other side.
And here's what matters.
The person you are now knows things that person didn't know then.
You learned something.
You adapted.
You grew in ways you didn't plan for.
You built strength you didn't know you had.
That same capacity is in you right now.
Let yourself acknowledge that.
You have survived 100% of your hardest days so far.
Every single one.
That's not luck.
That's you.
Say this to yourself.
I have survived before.
I am surviving now.
I will survive this too.
Let that settle.
Now,
I know some people talk about gratitude,
Like it's supposed to erase your pain.
Like if you're just grateful enough,
You won't struggle anymore.
That's not what this is.
You can be grateful for small things and still be in pain.
You can acknowledge what's good and still feel the weight of what's hard.
Both are true at the same time.
So let's practice a different kind of gratitude.
Not gratitude for the struggle itself,
But gratitude for what's holding you together in the middle of it.
Think about one thing,
Just one that has helped you get through this week.
Maybe it's a person who checked in on you.
Maybe it's your morning coffee.
Maybe it's your dog.
Maybe it's music.
Maybe it's the fact that your body keeps breathing even when your mind wants to give up.
Whatever it is,
Bring it to mind now.
And just say thank you,
Silently,
In your own way.
Thank you for this small thing that made it a little more bearable.
Now think of one thing about yourself.
Just one that you can acknowledge.
Not praise,
Not celebration,
Just acknowledgement.
Maybe it's that you're still trying.
Maybe it's that you asked for help.
Maybe it's that you're being honest about how hard this is instead of pretending.
Best,
Feel your heartbeat.
Thank your body for carrying you through this.
Thank your heart for not giving up.
Thank yourself for being here.
This isn't about pretending everything is fine.
It's about recognising that even in the darkness,
There are small lights and you're one of them.
Here's something I want you to consider.
What if the struggle you're in right now is not evidence that you're failing,
But evidence that you're growing.
Growth doesn't feel good while it's happening.
It feels like breaking,
Like stretching,
Like being in a space that's too small for who you're becoming.
The caterpillar doesn't feel strong in the cocoon.
It feels like it's dissolving.
But dissolution is part of transformation.
You might not be falling apart.
You might be falling together in a new way.
You might not be losing yourself.
You might be shedding a version of yourself that no longer serves you.
I'm not saying the pain isn't real.
I'm saying the pain might be doing something you can't see yet.
Take a breath.
What if this hard season is actually refining you,
Strengthening you in ways you won't understand until later?
What if the man on the other side of this is someone you'll be proud to be?
Right now.
But just consider it.
Just leave the door open to the possibility that this isn't the end of your story.
It's the middle.
And the middle is always the hardest part.
As we close,
Take three deep breaths with me.
Breathe in.
I am still here.
Breathe out.
I am still going.
Breathe in.
I am stronger than I feel.
Breathe out.
I am becoming who I need to be.
Breathe in.
I can do this one more day.
Breathe out.
And that is enough.
You don't have to figure out the whole journey right now.
You don't have to see the end.
You just have to take the next step.
And then the next.
And then the next.
And every single step,
No matter how small,
Is proof that you're still in it.
Still fighting.
Still choosing yourself,
Even when it's hard.
That's the strength you don't feel but have.
It's not loud.
It's not flashy.
But it's real.
And it's yours.
When you open your eyes,
The hard things will still be there.
But so will you.
Still standing.
Still here.
And that matters more than you know.
Gently open your eyes when you're ready.
Continue your journey.
If this practice helped you,
Know that you don't have to walk through hard seasons alone.
Explore more meditations on resilience,
Emotional regulation,
And self-compassion on my profile.
For deeper support through difficult transitions,
Coaching,
Shadow work,
And men's circles.
You're stronger than you think.
And you don't have to carry it all by yourself.
