Finding a single moment of understanding

Last week I was featured on the motivational and inspirational website TinyBuddha.com.

It was my third appearance on this amazing site, but something was different this time. You see my last two posts were not as personally revealing as my most recent titled, “Get Past It Instead of Getting Even: Revenge Isn’t Winning”.

In fact it took me almost five months to finally get up the courage to try and tell a story which had been bottled up inside of me for almost five years. Needless to say it was difficult not to feel embarrassed and uncomfortable about something so near and dear to my heart.

I had hoped that in telling my story a handful of people from the TinyBuddha.com community would find inspiration and maybe even a little solace from their own turmoil. But what I didn’t plan on was just how deeply they would wind up inspiring me.

I came across this quote which I think sums up my feelings perfectly. “A single moment of understanding can flood a whole life with meaning.” Anonymous

So often we assume that the problems facing our lives are unique – that no one else could possibly understand or relate to the myriad of emotions plaguing our daily existence.

And that was just how I felt.

In my environment, I was the only one experiencing a complete family breakdown. Few people understood how I could simply walk away from my parents, and therefore I often made up stories to conceal what was my reality.

But then I discovered something once my post hit the internet – that I wasn’t alone.

Many people either experienced similar situations or could understand how difficult it must’ve been to make some of the decisions I’d been forced to make in order to get to a better place.

To all my friends unknown who have written so many wonderful things to me – sharing a little part of themselves in the process – I say thank you.

Thank you for enabling me to finally see that even when we feel as though we’re “alone” in our feelings or our struggles, there are always people in the world who are willing to provide “a single moment of understanding.”

I feel so very blessed to have connected with some truly wonderful spirits traveling this earth. I wish them all the best…always, and hope they realize how speechless they made this ordinary guy who always has so much to say.