There is no pain as great as the feeling of a tremendous loss.

When I say “pain” I mean the true and unbearable feeling of losing someone you loved, knew or admired. This loss manifests inside each and every one of us, because as humans we cannot escape our emotions. We try to, but we are never successful.

The universe works in mysterious ways, and with the recent loss of Kobe Bryant and his daughter Gianna Bryant, we are reminded of the brutal reality of losing legends that have influenced our lives.

My generation grew up with saying “Kobe” whenever we tried to make a shot. We were reminded of his influence when he won a Grammy, and when he used his money to help fight homelessness and give people another shot at life.

Now, Kobe is gone. But his spirit is not, and his legend will live on.

There is a valuable lesson to be learned from this horrifying tragedy: to always love and cherish your loved ones and to not hide from your feelings, because everything can change in the blink of an eye.

We as humans try to break away from our emotions, as we believe that it will make us stronger. But the reality is our emotions are the essence of our characters.

The people we value and the people we love will always be with us in some form or the other, but it is my belief we need show our loved ones we care while we still can. We need to face our emotions and communicate them rather than shy away from them.

Sometimes the scariest of emotions and feelings are the very ones that shape us and make us who we are.

Tell the special people in your life, your family, and your friends that you love them. Tell them you care while you still can. Don’t be afraid to tell them how you feel. For those are the moments you will remember when one is gone.

And since we must face our emotions, we must accept them as well. Emotions don’t equate to weakness. The more in touch with your emotions, the more you accept them, the more joy you experience.

Pain is normal, everyone feels it. Sometimes we feel it more than other times. But being in touch with this pain can make you stronger, not weaker.

The feeling of loss shapes us, it makes us who we are. I’m sad to say it, but this feeling creates a light inside all of us. A light we can either nurture or turn off. My point is: loss can either break us, or help us grow.

No one deserves to feel as much pain as they do when they lose someone in their life. Everything happens for a reason whether we like it or not and it is our job to grow from our pain. To accept it as it is.

Love what you have and what’s been given to you. Loss may be an unbearable feeling, but love will always be more powerful.