bravery
« At the end of the day, bravery isn’t a battlefield. It isn’t fast cars, or stunted risk. Bravery is the quietest thing you will ever know. Bravery is getting up in the morning when your bones are heavy and your heart does not want the light to crack within it. Bravery is leaning into what aches, it is looking it in the face, giving it a name and confronting it for what it is. Bravery is being gentle with yourself, especially when it isn’t convenient or easy, especially when you are not a shining example of the person you strive to be. Bravery is forgiving yourself, it is the work you do within your soul that is dirty and difficult and demanding.
But most of all, bravery is the way you stretch towards the light. It is the way you bloom in the direction of goodness, even when you may not know what you are reaching for. Bravery is allowing yourself to believe that you are growing, even when it does not feel like it. Bravery is trusting yourself even when you do not recognize the path. Bravery is knowing that there is more for you, that you will have the ability to save yourself like you always have before; that you will survive. Go out there, be brave. »
a beautiful mess
your life will be a mess sometimes; a big fat mess of broken alcohol bottles and tears racing down your cheeks at three a.m. it will be failing tests and not getting into the college you applied for. it will be the person you love falling in love with someone else and your best friend moving across the country. it will be the world caving in and you not being able to breathe and it will be shaky hands and slurred words and beating hearts – but it will also be beautiful. it will be road trips across the country with your best friend with the radio loud and your heart so free that it feels like it’s going to explode out of your chest. it will be late nights on the roof with only the stars above you and you’re holding the person you love and they murmurs into your ear that they love you back. it will be early mornings with the sunlight draped across your back as you’re curled beneath the sheets soaked with the same light that fills your soul. it will be midnight bonfires on the beach and falling asleep with your eyes sparkling and your heart pounding and the waves that tossed you around filling your lungs. it will be dancing in the middle of the street at midnight with your feet brushing the ground and hair tangled with wonder and euphoria. it will be comfort, love, light and freedom. it will be finding yourself in things you love and losing yourself there too. it will be shaking breaths and warm heartbeats. it will be magic. you just gotta wait.