About this Episode
Most of us carry a quiet belief: if life feels hard, something must be wrong.
In this episode, I challenge that idea.
Drawing on a line from Michel de Montaigne—“You do not die of being sick, you die of being alive”—I explore what it really means to be alive, and why pain, loss, uncertainty, and struggle are not signs of failure, but expressions of life itself.
But understanding that intellectually is one thing. Living it is another.
When life becomes overwhelming, many of us respond in fear. We avoid. We run. We freeze. And in doing so, we don’t just avoid pain—we begin to step out of our own lives.
This episode is about that tension:
• The difference between knowing that struggle is part of life… and actually facing it
• Why avoidance feels natural—but costs us something deeper
• And how, in trying to protect ourselves from pain, we can lose touch with our own lives
This is Part 1 of a 2-part series. In the next episode, I’ll explore what it looks like to stay, to move, and to live with integrity in the middle of it all.
I'd love to hear what you have to say about the episode including thoughts on the poetry and the topics that were discussed. You can email me at [email protected].
My books of poetry are availabe for purchase at
["The Ghost of a Beating Heart", "My Mother Sleeps" and "Haiku Village"](
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