05/03/2025
I get hurt whenever I accidentally play music on my phone with my headphones on, unaware that it’s on the maximum volume.
I get hurt when I walk too fast and don’t notice the corner of the sofa bumped into my little toes.
I get hurt whenever my dog jumps into my stomach or scratches me deeply anywhere in my arms.
I played the music on my phone at maximum volume because I was too excited to listen to the new album of my favorite artist. I walked too fast on the sala because I couldn’t wait to see what my mother had brought home from the market. And lastly, I get jumped by, by my dogs because they missed me from leaving the house.
I get hurt because of my carelessness, but these are all temporary. And I can bear any type of physical pain because it will heal eventually. It may leave a minimal mark, but I am sure I’ll laugh it all in the future. Because I know that those were signs that I was happy at those moments.
But what I can’t fully bear is emotional pain.
It doesn’t leave bruises or scars on my body, yet I unknowingly carry it every single day. And that’s the hardest part of it—there’s no visible weight, but the damage it does is heavier than any physical thing I can carry.
As they say, with time, it will get better. The pain may never fully leave me, and the invisible marks it leaves behind may never fade.
But eventually, I’ll learn to carry it better—and somehow, I’ll learn to live with it.
—April Vespertine