Why do we suffer? 

This is a controversial question that has many explanations going about it. You often find yourself on the brink of giving up going through grief. Questions loom over your head. Caught in the existence paradox, you seek meaning in your wounds. Your tears salt the gashes that are left from the aftermath. You are left with more questions than answers. Why did they leave you? Why didn’t you say what you truly felt before it was too late? If God is good, why are you suffering? 

Laura Formentini is someone who has gone through heartache with the passing of her son, Blaise. It is unimaginable, the suffering of losing a child. 

But how did she deal with grief? And was she able to derive meaning from it? 

The answer isn’t in the destination. It’s rather in the journey that leads to it—the moments of sadness, nostalgia, and emptiness. 

What you do with those feelings is the decisive factor that leads you to a place of peace, of catharsis.

Laura emphasizes the power of journaling to her readers. 

The Power Of Journaling

When you feel alone, you can often find a companion in yourself in times of need. Journalling can help you have the right conversations with yourself as your grief develops. Often you find yourself resenting words of comfort from people. It is because sometimes, the heart wants to listen to itself and come to terms with the void left inside it. 

Make a habit of journaling the next time you have negative thoughts and when you find the time or are ready, revisit them to see how far you have come. 

Contrary to popular belief, journalling isn’t just an amalgamation of your experiences. Your journal doesn’t necessarily need to be filled with how your day went or a conversation at all. The spirit finds its ways to vent; according to the situation, the medium of expression can vary. 

Laura Formentini chose poetry as her raw expression to let her emotional state flow through strokes of pen, etching beautiful fables and nuances that were cathartic to her and her readers. The rawness in her words is a testimony to what she was going through at the time. 

She kept a journal every day to let go of any tension inside her. Her poems are a depiction of how her overwhelming pain progressed down to her eventual acceptance and healing. 

The journey finally leads to a realization, a resolution. 

The Resolution

That’s the thing about storms; they pass like everything else fleeting in life. What’s left are memories like little balls of energy powering your nostalgia. The resolution slowly sinks into the quiet. After you’ve found your peace, you have a story. A tale of triumph from grief, something that most people can’t seem to get out of. 

You can either do two things with this story untold. Either you can let it be a book on your shelf, one you can dust off once in a while and keep to yourself. Or you can pass it on. Pass on the torch to light up the world of many others going through what you did.

It’s the legacy we leave on this earth that you are known for at the end of the day. Something you contribute to others. It may be your ability to touch lives with merely your smile, telling your peers to “rock on,” something Blaise does effortlessly. 

Formentini took her documented journey through fables and prose and chose to encourage other people who are seeking shelter and solace under a tree. She gives her readers a ray of hope, like a warm beam of sunlight nourishing and nurturing the plant that will one day turn into an olive tree, a symbol of hope for whoever seeks it. 

And the chain continues, one act of kindness rubs off another, and before you know it, the world starts to heal. It starts to transform with the metamorphosis of life. 

This is why we’re here. This is why we strive. We’re here for good. Laura Formentini has set the benchmark for all those authors seeking resonance with their work. It will help them persevere and believe in their journey rather than the destination itself. Healing can only stem out of your pain. 

Take the first step by picking up Twentyone Olive Trees. A work of art that gives you an escape, a safe space to vent your frustrations and sadness. 

Carry the torch forward and continue a movement where people realize that death isn’t the end but a door to transformation.