Have you ever given a thought about the cranes you see towering up in the sky?

This blog post isn’t about Solange’s song, it’s about getting the superhuman strength we seem to lack, to do the heavy lifting that every now and then needs to be done to be able to move on or to re-build our lives.

This post is to thank my friends for being there, helping me get up when I wasn’t strong enough to lift myself up.

Cranes can move loads beyond human strength. Where there is a serious undertaking ahead, where there is heavy lifting to be done, there are cranes to move and place key pieces up or down, to the left or to the right.

There are times in life when we need to lift ourselves up, when we need to move on, but we cannot find the necessary inner strength on our own.

Sometimes it feels like we need a crane to get this superhuman strength we need. Drawing an analogy, people around us can help us gather and get the additional power we need.

A year ago, my life and the scaffold I had been building for the last 5 years collapsed. I found myself falling and crashing flat on the hard and cold ground.

After weeks of isolation, shame and self-pity, I started to feel ready to face people… and I got caught in an array of careless and self-destructive behaviours with total strangers. This phase lasted months...

I guess I needed to go through it. Back then, I couldn’t face anyone who knew me. One morning I woke up with a very bad hangover. Everything was blurry, but my mirror showed me my bruised body, and for the first time in months I didn’t feel physical pain was relieving psychological pain.

I went back into isolation, shame, self-pity, and this time therapy and detox. After some weeks, I dared to meet a friend and open up for the first time.

That night, while talking with my friend something changed: I accepted my life wasn’t what it used to be, and I had no idea about how to begin to rebuild myself and my life. I also realized the people I had been hiding from cared about me and wanted to be there for me.

It took courage, but I kept on meeting old friends and facing my ghosts. I got more helping hands than I would have ever dreamt of.

I cannot say I am back on my feet, but I am not laying flat on the floor or self-destructing myself anymore.

Think about it, put it this way, the superhuman strength you get from opening up, asking for help and getting people who care for you giving you a hand, is the most human thing.

Face your ghosts, dare to ask for help and look for cranes in the sky. You are not alone.