The Gold Beneath the Mud

I have never been uncomfortable with difficult feelings – sadness, grief, shame, guilt.
It’s not that I embrace them or draw some unhealthy satisfaction from their presence.
It’s simply that I find profound truths inside them, a clarity like still water that settles my mind, my thoughts, my heart, and ultimately guides me toward my soul.

On the other side of difficult feelings, I always find release – from people, situations, or choices that were never meant for me.
So I invite these feelings in, like a loyal friend who refuses to be “nice” at all costs, who will not smooth over truth or hide discomfort under polite veneers.
They reveal the absence of genuine care in places where care should have been.

The truest friends are the ones who sit in the mud with you, who remain quiet witnesses to your hard passages, and say, “You can walk this path. I know you will. And I’ll be here when you reach the other side.”
Their faith becomes a kind of shelter.

I have no need for those who flinch at my difficult feelings.
They are bright trinkets – costume jewellery at best.
A shine that was never earned.

This too is a difficult truth to speak into being:
deciding who to let in, who to keep at a distance, and who to greet gently but never invite beyond the frivolities of passing time.

These truths are guides to a richer life.
So I embrace them.
They are the most excellent companions –worth the finest gold.

~ Evgenia Pimżin