On the very last page of Anthony Kiedis’s book, he writes, “I might have some scar tissue, but that’s all right, I’m still making progress."

Maybe that’s what life is all about. The scar tissue. Those marks left on our souls, our minds, our bodies, that do some damage, but help us move forward. In the book Scar Tissue, the reader comes to understand that Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, enjoyed getting high on cocaine for a large part of his life. But by the end of the book, Kiedis reminds the reader of an important lesson: the value of scar tissue.

As a result of each and every hardship that we face as the human race, there are countless pieces of scar tissue that remain.

Scar tissue to me is the buildup I have on my body from leaving a pump site on for too long.

Scar tissue is how I feel after I know I haven’t been treating myself the best.

Maybe yours reaches farther than these examples.

Scar tissue is the pain you feel after goodbye.

Scar tissue is the abuse of drugs and/or alcohol.

Scar tissue is watching a family member go through something difficult.

Scar tissue is losing your best friend.

Scar tissue has an endless variety of shapes and sizes.

This book, although I did not know it, taught me an invaluable lesson about life. Kiedis writes in such a way and shares his life with his readers. But most importantly his book said to me: “hey, life is crazy and it’s okay if you’re crazy too. Just be yourself, and live how you want to live, don’t worry about the endless bouts of scar tissue. You will be okay.”

It is with a strong heart and an open mind that I write this today. Those times in our lives when we go through something hard or we feel strange for no specific reason, it’s important to see those times, and just keep living our lives. The scar tissue will buildup and leave marks.

But that doesn’t mean that life has to change just because there’s scar tissue. Nothing has to honestly change your life unless you allow it to.

See the scar tissue for what it is and move on. I’m speaking theoretically here, of course. As I mentioned, your scar tissue is not my scar tissue. Although mine starts from a medical disease, it goes way beyond the physical part of my life.

Just as every human being experiences love, loss, and laughter, I do too.

But some of it may leave scar tissue, where you might not necessarily have it. But that’s cause it’s me, not you.

This book helped me recognize my scar tissue and that I need to accept it in order to keep going.

I highly recommend giving Scar Tissue a read.

It will give you insight into one influential rockers life, but also, it might help you understand your own scar tissue a bit better.