Pain.

Pain is nothing new to humans. We all know pain. It is the great moderator of life. All life attempts to avoid pain-and thrives for doing so. It doesn’t take a premed major to tell you why; the things that cause us pain are those that damage us and make us less whole…less likely to survive, essentially.

But, I don’t want to talk about physical pain. I’m referring to a far different and possibly far worse form of pain. I’m referring to emotional pain.

Emotional pain occurs when you place trust in someone and that trust is somehow betrayed. Everyone has experienced it at some point. Likewise, everyone has caused it at some point. And, just as there are varying degrees of physical pain, so to are there varying degrees of emotional pain. Similarly, the degree of pain felt corresponds to the gravity of the injury. Some injuries are just minor cuts and bruises. You may silently chastise yourself for your foolishness, but you know you will probably suffer a similar injury down the line.

Then, there are the more serious wounds that leave scars. And when you look at these scars you may wince in recollection of the pain and suffering.

On the surface, these scars may seem like an undesirable aftermath of your injury. But this couldn’t be further from the true. Scars have a very important function: They serve as a constant reminder to the mistakes we have made in our life. And the important thing to remember is that you were able to heal. You may be left temporarily rattled and overly cautious-but you are whole again.

I could go on to discuss wounds that range in severity between scarring wounds and mortal wounds….but they are not effective in maintaining the overall metaphor and so shall be skipped.

This, then, leads us to mortal wounds.  The end-all wounds. Emotionally, you can never recover. I can’t go in to depth on these wounds because I’ve never experienced them (literally and metaphorically).

Perhaps, our relationships can be seen in these terms. You get daily scratches or bruises. Of course, you barely notice because the rewards are so much greater than the injury.  Occasionally, you suffer an injury that leaves a scar. It hurts, but you should be proud to know you were not crippled by it. You learned from it, and were stronger for it.

And, in the end, all this pain is okay because….well…you lived. You experienced something wonderful.

Vaya con Dios,

Dalton

Me.

I should probably first mention that I have never kept a blog before.  In fact, I have never even kept a diary.  I’m in uncharted waters.

You’ve been warned.

Firstly, I am from the South.  Mobile, AL- to be exact. But don’t hold that against me.  I assure you, the stereotypes are very much unfounded. At least, they were where I lived…

Second, I am a Christian. I’m not perfect, though. Not even close.

I’m also a very skeptical person. It’s not that I like being skeptical; far from it. It’s just that I know from experience that what most people will state as fact is simply a statement they heard from someone else that they, in turn, heard  from someone else.  No one ever seems to verify such facts, either. It’s easier to just accept it at face value and not ask questions. Much easier. It is worth mentioning, however, that even though I am a skeptical person, I by no means exclude myself entirely from this remarkably common cycle.  After all, it’s human nature to want to believe what we are told.  But, with only 21 years of life experience I can boldly state that it is your own knowledge and intuition you should most trust.

Now, I’ll go a bit deeper.

I am a remarkably caring person.  As a result, I really enjoy helping people. My biggest ambition is to help people on a monumental, if not global, scale.

I have a lot of self-confidence. Unfortunately, the line between self-confidence and arrogance tends to be pretty thin and I more often than not find myself stepping over it. I think the perfect person is one who is able to find a balance between self-confidence and humility. Terrific leaders seem to possess this calm, reassuring balance. And being absolutely honest….I don’t have this balance –  yet.

Finally, I must admit that I have trust issues.  This became very clear to me this past summer. The good news is I have come a long way in bestowing trust in those I love.  The bad news is it took far too long.

And I think that is enough for now.

Actually, one more very important thing.  I am in love.

It isn’t the “love-at-first-sight”, happily-ever-after type of love. That’s only in fairy tales.

But, it is  the “lost in each other’s eyes”, “do anything for them”, unconditional love that has overcome numerous obstacles and gets stronger every day. The type of love that makes you feel like you are the happiest person in the world and leaves you wondering why you deserve something so special. How did it happen? No clue. But it happened.

Roll your eyes if you must…….I know I probably would if I read this in someone else’s blog.  But, it has had a major impact on my life and priorities and this “about me” introduction would be very incomplete if I hadn’t said it.

Vaya con Dios,

Dalton