In the blink of an eye, your entire life can change. Everything that felt familiar, comforting and "normal" can be ripped from your hands like a toddler no longer wanting to share his toys.

You tell yourself that it's not fair. You worked too hard to have it all fall apart. The sleepless nights, the long days, the endless blood, sweat and tears that now seem like a foolish pursuit.

You wake each morning and rub your eyes with the hopes you'll find yourself back in the life that seemed on track and within your control.

When hope begins to slip through your fingers like a nightmare you can't wake up from, life gets dark.

We don't like to admit it as adults but darkness is scary. We can't see where we're going, we don't know what to expect and monsters hide in the unknown.

These monsters come in all shapes and sizes. Some take big nasty bites that leave horrific scars we never recover from. They etch themselves into how we see the world and how we view ourselves.

Herein lies the problem. These moments of pain will be inevitable in life. Some of these moments feel like we experience them alone, so it causes us to shut ourselves off to the world. The loss of a job, the death of a loved one, or a devastating divorce.

Then there are the moments that force us to see that there is no separation. Each experience we have is shared with others. The loss of a job, the death of a loved one, a devastating divorce... a pandemic, you and I rely on each other more than we might care to admit.

Your choices, your decisions, your emotions, your sense of hope matters not just for yourself but everyone who inhabits this planet.

Humans are resilient creatures. We adapt, learn and grow from the moments that challenge us.

Scars do not serve as ugly reminders of your pain. Scars are proof that you're a survivor.

I tell myself this when I look in the mirror or find myself scared to be alone with my thoughts.

I believe this is true with the same certainty that the sun will set and the sun will rise.

You do not need to have all the answers.

As author Zora Neale Hurston once wrote, "There are years that ask questions and years that answer."

Sometimes the best thing you or I can do is listen.

Not as a passive means to avoid our fear or not take action, but as a way of first identifying the problem.

Pouring water on burning grease or oil will not extinguish the fire. It will only cause the burning oil to splash, spreading the grease fire around.

We can not fix which we do not understand.

You don't need to have the answers, but you do need to adopt a belief that everything is figureoutable.

You will survive.

You will live to see another day.

And let the words of anthropologist Margaret Mead serve as a plan for action. Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”