“There’s something very deep here. How do we endure pain? How do we transcend it?
We turn it into art.”
Steven Pressfield, Govt Cheese
By: Gabriela Yareliz
There is a book I have been thinking about since February 2023. I bought it, and it is filled with short standalone chapters that sort of build on each other but also not. I read it slowly and chewed on it. It stayed with me like the scent of a Charleston marsh.
I was cautious in my reading, trying to not miss a thing. Finally, today, I decided I needed to finish this book. I couldn’t carry it with me into another year. Deep inside, I knew the time had come. It was time to devour the remains. And I feasted.
Reading the last 60% of it felt different. It was almost as if I was finally ready for the rest of it. I felt I processed it differently. It rattled and inspired me.
It’s funny how things arrive to us when we are ready. I feel the same when I read a passage of scripture that cuts through me differently.
I feel like the book sat with me in so many seasons. Seasons where I felt the warmth of the sun on my face, where I felt the cold and quiet envelope me, where I waded through the bog of life and my own thoughts. Seeing the world as if I lost my glasses. And today, it was like in the middle of the swamp, a boat appeared. I came home, still gripping the soaked torn pages in my hand. I could see. Everything was clear.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 