Imagine for a minute running a 100 mile ultra marathon.  People sort of know but they really don’t know how hard it is.  They only see you at the last mile and wonder what’s wrong with you.  Why aren’t you running faster?  Why aren’t you doing more?  Why aren’t you more patient and more caring and doing more?  It’s just 1 mile.

It’s because they haven’t run the previous 99 miles  They haven’t seen you run the previous 99 miles.  So they look at you as if you are only running a mile and wonder what’s wrong.

You know what’s wrong.  You’ve run 99 miles and you are exhausted.  There is nothing more to give emotionally.  There is nothing more to give physically.

But when they see you, they don’t see that.  Because when they see you they see a person on the outside who looks normal.  You talk normal.  You like fine to them.  But you know that on the inside you are far past normal.  You are not even crawling.  You are face down in the dust using a single toe to propel your body forward.   You are still moving but barely.

It’s so hard to be judged so harshly by others.  They just don’t get it.  They assume you are lazy as they see nothing wrong with you.

But take heart.  You are not alone.

We are of the club of the Unseen 99.