When Life Feels Heavy: How to Keep Going
by Veronica Joce
There’s a quiet kind of pain that comes in moments like these. When the house feels too still, the streets too empty, or maybe even the opposite—when the world feels loud and full, but none of it feels like yours.
Sometimes the weight of it all sneaks up on you. You might be sitting with your favorite tea or scrolling mindlessly through your phone, and there it is—the ache. The kind of ache that makes your chest feel hollow.
Maybe it’s the heartbreak of a divorce. The grief of losing someone you love. Or the quiet fear of facing an illness—yours or someone else’s. It could be the uncertainty of changing careers, moving countries, or trying to rebuild your life after everything fell apart. Perhaps you’re struggling to make ends meet, feeling stuck in a life you didn’t choose, or carrying the weight of being strong for someone else when you feel anything but.
Whatever it is, I want to tell you that it’s okay. It’s okay to miss someone, even if they’ve been gone for years. It’s okay to feel lost and unsteady, when everyone else seems to have it all together. It’s okay to carry sadness and still hope for better days. Every new season can hold so much—love, grief, loneliness, joy—all tangled together. And whatever you’re holding, I just want you to know: I see you. I feel it, too.
We all carry pain in different forms. And if it feels heavy right now, let this be a moment to pause. Take a breath with me. Just one. Let it remind you that you’re alive. You’re here. And for now, that’s enough.
This article is for you. Not to fix what’s broken, but to sit with you for a moment. To remind you that even when life feels impossibly heavy, there’s a way forward—even if it’s just one step at a time.
Let yourself feel the pain
Some days, the only way forward is to sit with what hurts. Let yourself cry. Let yourself miss the person who left, the life you wanted, or the future you thought was certain. You don’t have to push it away or pretend it’s not there.
Feeling the pain doesn’t make you weak—it makes you human. Strength isn’t about avoiding the hard parts. It’s about allowing them to exist, knowing they won’t last forever. Some days, it’s enough to simply acknowledge, “This hurts,” and let the tears or the silence do the rest.
Try This
Take five minutes to write or speak aloud what you’re feeling. Don’t judge it. Don’t edit it. Just let it out. There’s power in giving shape to what feels impossible to hold.
Accept the heaviness
Some pain doesn’t disappear. Some losses stay with you, changing the shape of who you are. Carving space in your heart that never fully heals. And that’s okay. Because healing isn’t about erasing the past—it’s about learning to live with it. Letting it teach you without letting it consume you.
When you stop running from the heaviness, you often discover it’s not as overpowering as you feared. It exists, like a shadow—not always visible, but always part of you.
The weight you’re carrying is real, but you don’t have to hold it all at once. Sometimes, simply accepting it is enough. And acceptance doesn’t mean you’re giving up or giving in. It means you’re making peace with what is. It means you’re allowing yourself to sit with your feelings instead of fighting them. And in that space, you’ll find a room to breathe again.
Try This
Close your eyes and visualize your pain as a physical object. Maybe it’s a stone, a cloud, or a heavy bag. Imagine yourself holding it gently. Notice its weight, its texture, its shape. Now imagine carrying it a little more lightly. Notice how your breath changes as you do.
Learn to let go, little by little
Maybe it’s resentment toward someone who hurt you. Maybe it’s an expectation you couldn’t meet or a version of your life that didn’t turn out as planned. Maybe it’s a relationship, a memory, or an identity you’ve outgrown but are too afraid to release.
Letting go doesn’t mean forgetting the pain or pretending something didn’t happen, or that it didn’t matter. Letting go means loosening your grip on the things that weigh you down.
It’s hard. It takes courage. But it can also give you space—room for lightness, possibility, and something new. And you don’t have to let it go all at once. Start small. Start now.
Try This
Write down one thing that feels too heavy to carry today. It could be a name, a memory, or a feeling. Then, as an act of release, tear up the paper, burn it (safely), or simply hide it as a symbol of release. Let it remind you that you don’t have to hold onto everything forever. Give yourself permission to move forward, even in the smallest steps.
Find strength and silver linings in the struggle
Strength isn’t about being unshaken. It doesn’t mean having it all together or never falling apart. Strength is about continuing to move forward. It’s about showing up, choosing to try again, to hope again, to love again. Even when it feels impossible.
Pain can teach you compassion—for yourself and for others. Grief deepens your capacity to love because you understand what it means to lose. Broken promises, shattered plans, and uncertain future teach you resilience. They force you to grow in ways you never imagined.
It’s not easy to find silver linings in the middle of the storm. But when you look back, you might see how the struggle shaped you. How it revealed a strength you didn’t know you had.
Try This
Think of a challenge you’ve faced this year. What’s one thing it’s taught you about yourself? Maybe it’s your ability to keep going, your capacity to forgive, or your courage to start over. Write it down or share it with someone you trust. Let it remind you of your quiet strength, even on hard days.
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I don’t know what exactly you’re going through right now, but I know what it feels like to hurt. To wake up and wonder how you’ll make it through another day. To hold it together when all you want to do is fall apart. So I want you to know this: You are not alone. You are not broken. Not beyond repair. Whatever it is you’re feeling, it’s okay to feel it. Let yourself cry. Let yourself rest.
Sometimes, life is unbearably hard. And yet, you’ve made it this far. You’re here. Breathing through the pain, finding small moments of light. That says something about your heart and your strength. If the weight feels too much right now, just focus on this moment. Not the next hour, not tomorrow—just this breath. Feel the air filling your lungs, grounding you.
Let yourself rest in the truth that you are loved, even in your messiest, most painful moments. You are worthy of healing, even if it feels far away. And no matter how heavy life gets, you are never, ever alone.