Time heals all?

Grief.

Wounds. 
Heart aches. 

Time heals all, they said. But does it? 

Many times when people closest to me grieve or feel broken, I’m tempted to use that one very cliche phrase. The one that reads something along the lines of “you’ll be fine”. I try to stop myself from saying it but for lack of better consolation most times, I end up saying it. And each time, I hear a tiny voice in my head saying, “you don’t know that”. 

When I experience tough times and ride rough rides, I try to tell myself that it’ll all get better. That these tough times don’t last. That with each passing day, it’ll get better. That time will heal it all. And to some extent, it does. 

With each passing day, I forget. I forget the depth of the pain I once felt. With each passing day, I gain strength. Strength to overcome potentially similar challenges in the future. With each passing day, I gain better reasoning and understanding. The reasoning and understanding to deal with situations better. With each passing day, I let go. I let go of the hurt I once held onto tightly. But with each passing day, do my scars heal? Never fully. 

Time gives hope. Time gives strength. Time fades memories. But the scars from the grief, and the wounds and the heartaches? They never really go away. 

Maybe rightfully so. Maybe if time healed, we’d never get strong enough. Maybe if time healed, we’d never learn from our past. Maybe time shouldn’t heal. 

So, We can hold onto our scars and all our residual hurt and be reminded of the strength we now have.