Almost everything that is meaningful, beautiful, life-affirming, empowering, transformational, true—it can’t be reached by shortcuts. But what we can do is make the longcuts walkable, put out footbridges and stairs, and a table where the ocean comes into view.

surround yourself with people who fight for you in rooms you aren’t in

the change comes less from the small act itself and more from what the small act represents, which is a commitment to the idea that you have agency, and thus that life is changeable, and thus that life is more worthy than you might have previously thought.

unpleasant experiences will happen.
that’s life.
don’t take them personally.
don’t victimize yourself.
don’t panic or waste your energy getting angry.

discernment > detachment

allow yourself to have your desires, your wants, your needs, your dreams
but also learn to discern when something may not be for you (maybe yet), or when sometimes it’s about presence and enjoying what’s currently in your life.

I like the idea of reminding myself how insignificant I am by being in the middle of nature, by being in the middle of an ocean, or being at sea. There’s something very reassuring to remind yourself every once in a while that you need to take yourself outside of your own trivial little problems and consider yourself as a speck

To not dance when you had the health and could hear the music could be the biggest regret of your life.

People with childhood trauma who grew up in abusive households where their worth was reduced to their ability to secure capitalist trophies like well-paying jobs, accolades & awards, a cis-heteronormative relationship, & other arbitrary metrics of success. They grow up thinking that they will not receive love, care, validation and affection unless they “excel” at conforming. It takes years of unlearning, addressing your trauma and receiving community support to grow out of this “climb the ladder” mentality. You don’t know which growth phase of someones life you’re catching them.

“An unspoken expectation is unkind”