We have loved, we have lost. We have grieved, we have rejoiced. We threw parties, and attended funerals. Somehow, we've managed to fit the entire spectrum of human emotion into one single year, and frankly, I'm impressed.
I learn a lot of lessons through the little things in life, but the most important one that that seems to have become a bit of a recurring theme is that with every hardship really does come ease, but it does not happen without putting in the work.
You will learn about yourself, even in the worst of times. More importantly, you must be willing to see even the lows of life as a learning curve. Not every day will be a good day, and not every moment of self-care will look the same as the last. You just have to be willing to see that even when you feel blindsided by the things life throws at us.
For years, I have convinced myself that there is still time. There is time to read that book I love. There is time to pray those prayers. There is time to sort that argument. There is time to let go of that grudge. There is time. In my head, there is always time. But the truth is, there isn't.
There's something so terribly intimate about sharing your favourite books, and I guess this is me stripping back one layer for you all. I hope you enjoy reading these books as much as I do.
Life is insane, and it's crazy, and it throws things at you that you never even thought of in your wildest dreams, but you know what? It's still pretty dang great. The entire art of living is not knowing what you're doing but doing it anyway because, well, you can.
The days are dark, and the light seems as though it will never shine upon us, but we’re going to power through anyway and hold on to the most powerful thing we have, hope. The tides will inevitably change, and our paths will too often stray from the linear one we’d hoped for it to stay on, but that isn’t always a bad thing; sometimes what we need is different to what we want and it is in the right timing and situation that all which is right for us will align and make its self apparent.
On the good days and the bad, I reached out for my comfort book and read it cover to cover until my little brain pleaded with me to change it up a bit and read something new. But, my goodness, that book changed me.
And that’s the biggest difference in this new year of life. For so long I have lived for everyone else that I forgot that I’m a person too, and I deserve to be cared for by me.
On some mornings I still stand in front of the mirror for a minute too long and have to fight the urge to knock all of these products off the sink, but I have to take a moment to remind myself that this is for me. It hasn't always been for me, but it is now. I owe it to myself to be kind to my body, mind, and soul.
