Positivity & Productivity
We were girls with loud voices, notoriously resented by the staff of our school for being outspoken and difficult to tame, as a year group. We were creative, wild and a bundle of loose canons set to explode into adulthood. Yet, these same girls, myself included, were unsure of ourselves, anxious and self-conscious in the extreme.
Yet here is what I can do; I can remind them that they are magic to every life they touch. This is a shout of love into the void of pain, reminding you, my beloved friend, that to feel alone is but an illusion. You will never stand alone, you always have me. I will be your fortitude, your crutch and your cheerleader whenever the need arises. I cannot solve your problems, but I will ensure that you do not face them alone.
‘You are meaner than your demons, colder than your pain and braver than your last thought.’
If we accept that fact, that We Are All One, as true then another intrinsic truth arises that we cannot ignore. If we were to live as though no one, even those who wrong us in the worst ways, were a part of how soul in need of love rather than condemnation, then we would never lack. There would be Enough.
I understand something I didn’t as a teenager. We can be on anti-depressants or in therapy and still experience moments so sharply brilliant that we laugh until our chests hurt. We can fret over living with our parents until our thirties and still receive a hug from a friend that is filled with such love that life is, momentarily, fixed and whole once more.
As a child, I was always one to feel guilt quickly and regret often. My mother uttered; 'Just let it go, Jen' more times than I can remember. Now, with a somewhat genetic complex for guilt and anxiety, I have noticed the toll that 'cancel culture' and social media is having on my own mind.
On that day, a day when a fluid definition of success flows through our veins, I know that we will cheer louder for each other than anyone else because truly, we'll have earned it, deserving a time where our creativity knows no bounds.
"I used to fear growing up timid. Now I fear growing up critical. Now I wonder if a critical nature indicates an inner bitterness and that in itself means that the world has won in curbing your nature that began as anything but cruel."
What if Youth is Broken?
What is 'character'? We're obsessed with building it, developing it, downright finding it. Or at least I am. Yet it was only today that I truly asked myself what I believe character to be. As a writer, I am fixated upon imagining up characters that are the right mixture of complex, intriguing and … Continue reading Character Building Stuff
