✶ One Mixed Up World ✶

If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s this: Listen to the kindest voice in your head. It’s the highest form of yourself. The best you is the kindest you, to yourself and to others. It’s sharp and rough out there. The only way you beat it is by keeping it soft and gentle in your heart. Being kind is enough. Love is enough.

1. You have that one big goal in mind that seems pretty much unreachable from where you are right now? Set yourself small goals along the way. It’s satisfying to know you’ve taken another step towards your main goal, even if that step was a small one. 2. If you like someone, tell them. If you struggle to find the right words, show them instead. Make time for them. Listen to them. Choose them with everything you have. It’s the small gestures that mean so much. 3. Do more of what makes you happy - such a generic phrase, yet it holds so much truth. If there is something you are passionate about, something that makes your heart race, no matter what it is, pursue it. Don’t ever give up on your dreams. 4. Forgive yourself for mistakes you made in the past. Every decision that seems like a wrong one at the start could lead to something that changes your life for the better, never forget that. 5. The perfect time to start is right now. Not tomorrow, not in a month, not in a year. Procrastination is tempting but it’s also toxic. If there is something, anything in this world that makes your pulse race and you’ve been scared to pour your whole heart into it, start now. Don’t wait because the beginning seems scary. It is. It always is. Take the first step. 6. Take your time to heal. If you’re ready to move on in a month, it’s okay. If a year has gone by and you still can’t figure out how to let go of your past, it’s okay. Know that time is a vital factor when it comes to healing wounds - and every person needs a different amount of time. 7. Give yourself more credit. Think back to where you were years ago, recall your worries and fears from that time and acknowledge how far you’ve come. You are incredibly brave, never forget that. 8. Think of something you’ve always been too scared to do - then do it. There is nothing that makes you prouder than conquering your fears. 9. Being kind is a choice. Consciously decide to be a good person - it doesn’t mean you won’t have bad thoughts, that you won’t mess up or that you don’t get to be selfish sometimes. But you have the power to decide what kind of person you want to be today. Be the person that makes the world a little brighter, not the one who darkens someone else’s light to push themselves to the fore. 10. If someone wants to be a part of your life, they’ll fight for it. If they miss you, they’ll call. If they want to keep you at their side, they’ll show you. And if they don’t, if they keep messing up and take you for granted, you’re probably better off without them.

If you’re reading this, if there’s air in your lungs on this November day, then there is still hope for you. Your story is still going. And maybe some things are true for all of us. Perhaps we all relate to pain. Perhaps we all relate to fear and loss and questions. And perhaps we all deserve to be honest, all deserve whatever help we need. Our stories are all so many things: Heavy and light. Beautiful and difficult. Hopeful and uncertain. But our stories aren’t finished yet. There is still time, for things to heal and change and grow. There is still time to be surprised. We are still going, you and I. We are stories still going.

I’m not used to being loved. I wouldn’t know what to do.