Christmas Wishes

For those of you who aren’t where you thought you’d be this Christmas —

For those of you who’ve had to put a brave face on —

For those of you who didn’t get the happy ending or the fairytale beginning —

For those of you who had to take many deep breaths to get through this season while others had no idea you were even struggling for oxygen —

For those of you who carried yourselves with a grace far beyond what anyone else could muster had they been in your shoes —

I see you.

You are not alone.

You are braver than you think.

You are loved more than you know.

Wishing you a year ahead that is truly

Merry + bright —

In every prayer hoped for,

And in every dream imagined.

Beautiful

Remember your beauty.
Remember your worth.
Remember that you mean something.
That the world is a brighter place with you in it.

If you feel that you are broken, know that I am broken too. If we were all honest with ourselves and with each other, we'd realize that we are all broken in some way. All the pretty masks we wear won't hide it. Perhaps it's time we stop hiding it.

I know the weight you carry is lonely and painful and devastating at times, and the darkness feels as if it might swallow you whole if you just stopped for a second to let yourself truly feel. But there is beauty in your fight. There's a fierceness in your will to survive. There is brilliant, blinding light on the other side of midnight, just waiting to break through, waiting to save you.

So if you are so buried in the pain that you can't see a safe way through it, if you feel like you're not good enough, not worthy enough, not strong enough -- let these words ring out like an anthem in your soul:

You are beautiful.
You are beautiful.
You are beautiful.

You are too beautiful to lose. 

Fight

The fact of the matter is that life is just hard sometimes.
And it's easy to lose ourselves in the hardness of it.
In all the false starts and futile attempts.
In all the dreams still dreams.
But without dreams and hopes and inspiration, what is there left to strive for?

I get why it's easier -- safer perhaps -- to just accept defeat than to crash in continual disappointment.
But that's the tricky thing about life.
You just never know when something could change for the better.
When wounds could heal.
When you might catch a break.
Or achieve the most impossible dream.

So fight against the mundanity. Every day.
Fight against the hard to reconcile reality glaring in stark contrast against the entire universe you've dreamed up for yourself.
Fight against depression. Against anxiety. Against any and all voices that would seek to silence you, or to sentence you to a fate that was never ever intended to be yours.
Fight to hold on.
Just a little bit longer.
Knowing that, believing that, there is beauty to be found in all of it.

Self-Care Days

Every day should be a self-care day.
We get so busy.
We forget that our hearts and souls need rest.
We forget to stop and breathe.
To delight in the little things.

Sunshine.
Friendship.
Nature.
Small, unexpected surprises.
Pets and people who love unconditionally.

We forget to hurt and to heal.
To let ourselves feel and process and think.
To allow ourselves to give up and to begin again.
To simply be okay with our existence in this universe,
With the chaotic craziness of it all.
With change, and loss, and new realities.

Always remembering grace.
Always reminding ourselves
That love is fuel,
And we burn brighter and stronger
When we pour into ourselves and in each other.

Birthday Revelations

None of our lives are perfect. None of us have arrived. What we don't often see in the day to day of cliché conversations and social media shares are the things we miss. The people we miss. The hard days. The broken days. The days where we wonder if any of this life stuff is worth it. The days where our dreams seem infinitely impossible.

But we hold onto the moments. The seconds. The brief breaths that sustain us until the next -- the next second of inspiration, of connection, of hope. We hold on, and we remind ourselves that beauty is often found in the seemingly insignificant snapshots of our lives. In the grit, and the grain, and the grace of it all.