“Time heals griefs and quarrels, for we change and are no longer the same persons.”
— Blaise Pascal, Pensées
There was a period two winters ago when I was convinced a particular hurt would never fully leave. Not because I’m dramatic, but because three months in it still felt just as sharp as the first week and I couldn’t see any evidence that time was actually doing anything useful.
Pascal’s point is subtler than “it gets better.” He’s saying you become someone different, and different people carry things differently. The version of me that got hurt isn’t quite the same person writing this now. That’s not forgetting. It’s just how time actually works, quietly and without asking permission.
You don’t outrun the pain. You just slowly become someone who holds it a little more loosely.