I had a hard time reacclimating to my former life. I felt like I was walking back into my life, my business, my daily life, with no skin on. I could see that people saw. And the most basic question — “How are you?” — would crack me open. Knowing that women have to hold this pain, this secret. That another one in four was in my midst and we just keep it in. What is it as a society that makes us so afraid of each other’s pain? Of each other’s grief? Why is it that we can put so much emphasis on our accomplishments, our gains and our triumphs, but we have to shame and hide the challenges, and the pain that comes along the way?

We each deal with our feelings in our own way during these times; busying ourselves with work or family life, engaging ourselves with readings to find clarity. We do all that we can to honor what’s coming up while trying to continue living in a meaningful way. And yet, days, months even years after these events we can still feel so completely out of it and we are expected to pull it together and move on, continue moving forward although our experience of life has shifted significantly.