About a month ago, I broke my foot
dancing. I landed a jump wrong and felt the fracture ripple through my body. It
was a very unique experience; I actually felt as though I was the bone that was breaking. It was a deep and unusual
sensation. I have sprained, I have strained, and I have torn, I have felt those
pains, and now, I have felt the pain of a break.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am
an avid dancer; I was born to be on stage. When I broke myself I was rehearsing
for a performance with Brigham Young University- Idaho’s Dance Alliance. The team
works together for 8 months and puts on two shows on campus, then travels for
two weeks to cap off the experience. So, being a member of the team with a
broken foot has been my personal hell. Almost everyone I have encountered has
expressed how impressed they are by my positive attitude and cheerful demeanor
throughout the healing process. However, no one has seen the terrible
heartbreak that I feel every day. No one has recognized that beyond my smile,
beyond my words, there is a sorrow deeper than they could imagine. No one has
witnessed my insecurity, my vulnerability, the feeling as if part of me had died;
no one has witnessed that, until now.
I have felt more pain in this past
month than I ever could have imagined. I have faced more challenges and
difficulties in this past year than I would ever wish on anyone, not even my
most despised enemy. My body, mind, and spirit have been broken, both literally
and metaphorically, and tonight, I cried. I have shed more tears in the last
eight months than I think I have in my entire life. Not one of these tears was
as cleansing as those I cried tonight. With each tear I addressed my feelings;
my hopes, my dreams, my successes, my failures. I let myself open up, and I mended
what was broken.
To those who feel broken, lonely,
and like there is no end. I promise, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Gordon B. Hinckley, former
President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once said, “Love is more than a paper heart. Love is
of the very essence of life. It is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Yet it is more than the end of the rainbow. Love is at the beginning also, and
from it springs the beauty that arches across the sky on a stormy day” (And the Greatest of These Is Love, Mar.
1984). As long as there is one person around to love you, you can make it
through, and there is always at least one: Jesus Christ.
You can do it!
