Shine A Light In The Darkness

“You are never alone in the darkness if you can remember the good”

I heard this in one of my favourite programmes, NCIS and I thought that was a good thing to remember.

I know there are many people out there who struggle with loneliness, who have crippling depression that feels like they are being surrounded in a darkness with no sign of light or a deep dark hole that feels like there is no ladder to climb and I hope that this saying brings at least some comfort.

It can be difficult to comprehend the feelings of others, especially if you have not been there yourself, we are all unique in our feelings and the only person who truly knows how you feel is you. Yet we can gain some understanding, perhaps an inkling into it by putting ourselves in that situation.

I guess as a writer, I am blessed with an ability to imagine it more clearly, however there are some experiences I do not need to imagine as I have been there.

I have experienced loss, grief, despair; that black cloud of depression with a seemingly endless end, I have been bullied, stressed, anxious, picked myself up and dusted myself down and started again on numerous occasions, yet I have also experienced happiness, love and periods of complete peace, where not even the daily stresses and worries have been able to penetrate (at least not for a short while).

I have not, however ever experienced homelessness, the need to take drugs for any reason (yet I can understand why some people do – to forget, to belong and many others).

I have been lucky to have not struggled with a chronic condition or disease (though I know many people who do). How would I cope if I was in almost constant physical pain on a daily basis? To be honest I don’t think I could, yet there are people out there who do and are living with it, they keep going and what keeps them going? Because what is the alternative? Or is it the hope that one day something will change? Don’t we all have this sense of hope deep within us, hope that one day we will have enough money to do all the things we want to do? Hope that our next home will be that bit bigger? It may even be just the hope to one day have a home at all.

We are all hoping for something, from the more trivial (hoping that the light changes to green soon), to the more important (hoping that someone we love recovers from illness).

We might think we are alone in the darkness, but if we could shine a light in there even for a brief moment, we might just be surprised to find company.