18/12/2025
❤️
Wounded, Not Lost
Sometimes in our lives,
after a deep hurt,
after the loss of someone dear,
the world becomes unfamiliar,
and we no longer recognize
the sound of our own footsteps.
What once felt solid
shifts beneath us,
leaving us disoriented,
unsure of where we stand.
Grief blurs
our sense of identity.
In that fragile space,
vulnerability takes hold,
and in our bid to survive
we quiet our voices
to avoid further pain.
We drift from the truths
that once anchored us,
mistaking silence for safety,
distance for protection.
But remember,
even then,
you are not lost.
You are simply wounded.
Beneath the sorrow
and the disorientation,
your essence remains intact,
waiting patiently
for your return.
Vulnerability does not erase you.
It reveals
how deeply you have loved,
how fully you have lived.
When you feel most lost,
this is often when you are closest
to something honest,
something enduring
within yourself.
Finding your way back
is rarely dramatic.
It arrives gently,
a memory that warms
instead of wounds,
a breath that comes
a little easier,
a choice to be kind
rather than unkind.
From woundedness to healing
is not a single step,
but a slow turning,
toward light,
toward breath,
toward yourself.
It is learning to hold
what hurts
without letting it define you,
to honor the wound
without living inside it,
to let tenderness
become strength.
And slowly,
the path reappears.
Not as it once was,
but shaped by all
you have carried,
by all you have survived.
When you finally recognize
yourself again,
one truth becomes clear:
you are not weaker
for having been broken,
but deeper,
more compassionate,
and more real
than ever before.
~ 'Wounded, Not Lost' by Spirit of a Hippie
✍️ Mary Anne Byrne
~ Art by Olamik
