#kindheart

― D.J. Martinez, creator of goodquotes

Glam, words cannot fully capture how lucky I feel to have you in my life. The sappy essays I write for every birthday only scratch the surface. We have changed so much since we first met, and those looking from the outside may say we were barely recognizable. You say you were cringe and young but you made me both laugh my ass off and open my eyes to new perspectives all the time just as you still do today. If I could go back I would do it all again in a heartbeat. We have seen each other through so many phases in life, from our many different creative projects to real-life graduations and new homes. We’ve expanded our fandom interests so much but that hardly even matters because we are still each other’s person through it all. You’ve been my biggest cheerleader and I only hope I’ve been the same for you. I am so proud of how much we’ve grown together and I can’t wait to see where we are when we celebrate our 20th anniversary.

My birthday gift from @bibeavis of my ponysona! Thank you so much for being such a good friend to me Santi, this means the world to me 🫂 I hope for many more years of the laughs and deep thoughts we’ve shared as we’ve broadened our horizons together! 🩷

I’m happy to share btw! As Zephyr would say, there's enough of him to go around 🥰

There is a painful paradox in emotional dynamics:Those who know suffering intimately often become the most generous with their empathy. They anticipate pain in others because they’ve lived it. They overextend compassion because they never want someone else to feel what they once felt.But without boundaries, compassion turns into self-abandonment.Chronic over-giving is not weakness — it is usually trauma-informed empathy. It is a learned response: “If I love harder, give more, sacrifice deeper… maybe I’ll finally receive the same.”Unfortunately, people who give everything often attract those who take everything.The lesson is not to harden your heart.The lesson is to protect it.Kindness without boundaries becomes depletion.Empathy without reciprocity becomes emotional injury.Love without standards becomes self-neglect.A healthy heart gives — but not at the cost of its own survival.It is not a sad world because kindness exists.It becomes sad only when kind people forget they deserve protection too.

Cinderella, 2015