When It Feels Hard: Navigating Challenging Journeys

Not every journey is light-filled. Sometimes the medicine takes us into shadow, sorrow, or silence. This doesn’t mean something has gone wrong. In fact, it often means something important is unfolding.

Challenging experiences are part of the path. The medicine doesn’t bypass what hurts—it brings us closer to it, so we can meet it with new eyes.

If you find yourself in the midst of a difficult moment, here are a few things to remember:

1. Stay with your breath.
The breath is your anchor. When things feel overwhelming, come back to it. Inhale gently. Exhale slowly. You are here. You are safe.

2. You are not alone.
Even if your experience feels isolating, you are held. By the space, by the medicine, by the deeper part of you that chose to be here. And if you’re in ceremony, there are people close by who care deeply.

3. This is temporary.
No emotion, sensation, or vision lasts forever. The intensity will pass. Let the wave move through you.

4. Get curious.
Instead of asking, “Why is this happening to me?” try “What is this showing me?” Often, the discomfort points to something sacred: an old wound, a hidden truth, a part of you that’s been waiting to be met.

5. You don’t have to figure it all out right now.
The insights may come later. For now, just be with what is. Sometimes the medicine is planting seeds that will bloom long after the ceremony ends.

Challenging journeys aren’t failures. They’re invitations to deepen. To surrender. To trust.

The medicine knows your capacity better than your mind does. It will never give you more than you are ready to hold.

So if it feels hard, breathe. Stay present. And remember… you are in the middle of a story that is still unfolding.

The light returns. Always.