Breaking Point

It is okay to keep going through the pain and it is okay to let go before you break.
How many of us truly listen to what our bodies are telling us?
Whether it is physical or emotional, we do reach a breaking point.
It is okay to hurt all the way through.
It is also important to recognize when the breaking point is near.

These are the thoughts that have been running through my head.  I have/had taken a break from intense emotional work.  I recognized that I was too near my breaking point.  Where that place is for me, changes.  As I learn, understand and heal, my ability to push forward increases.  I find that I can do more, tolerate more and push a little further each time.
Learning that I could continue even when it hurt, was important for me.  Sometimes the emotional pain feels overwhelming.  There are times that it feels like there is no way I can go on.  It has reached points where I no longer wished to be alive.
An understanding that I have a breaking point was and is extremely important.  Never again do I want to be in that place where I contemplate suicide.  I know all too well the impact of suicide on those left behind.  I also know the ugliness of feeling that the world would be a better place without me in it.  I know the pain of wanting everything to just end.  Catching those signals before they become out of control is one way of stopping myself before I reach the breaking point.
Stopping before a breaking point is not a failure.  It is not the end of the road.  For me it is like taking a deep long breath.  It is allowing my body to rest, recover and heal before continuing.  I am sure that athletes can relate to this.  If they push to the breaking point they run the risk of serious injury that takes them out of the game for awhile.  There is still pain.  It is okay to hurt from the hard work.  It is okay to step back before you break.  Step back, breathe and regroup.