מילים

I have an odd relationship
with difficult things.
They scare me.
Then they interest me.

There is a part of me
that wants to know
what happens
when the road becomes hard.

My father taught me
not to confuse
the popular direction
with the right one.

If everyone is moving
one way,
I want to know
why.

If everyone chooses
the comfortable option,
I want to know
what discomfort
might be trying to teach.

I have walked towards
things that frightened me
simply because
I wanted to meet
the person I would become
on the other side.

Difficulty reveals things.
It shows you
how much patience
you actually have.
How much courage.

How creative
your survival can become.
How many times
you can hear,

No,

and still search
for another door.

I do not worship struggle.
Pain is not automatically
noble because it hurts.

But I respect
what resistance can reveal.
There are strengths
that comfort never introduces.

There are parts of yourself
you meet only
when the plan breaks.

I have met some of mine.
And now,
when the road becomes hard,
I do not immediately
assume I have chosen wrong.

I ask,

What is this asking
me to become?

I have stopped believing
that every hard road
is a punishment.

Some roads
are simply classrooms.