I remember how warm his hand felt wrapped around mine. How safe it made me feel as we crossed the Dublin streets. I remember the way we laughed until we cried as the piano solo began. Front row, center, we tried to hold it in but only laughed harder. I remember the joy and innocence…
self-love
Let it all drop 🍃
Once, I was a falcon, or at least I tried to be. Fast and focused, I was quick to act, quick to think, never a moment wasted. I wanted to fly the farthest and be the most ruthless. I carried with me always a sense of urgency, as if to say, “Look how much I…
I Thought I Had Demons
I used to think there was something bad and broken in me. Some damaged bits hidden deep down, out of my reach. They spoke to me, whispering riddles and sending me on impossible quests. They mocked my failure when I came back empty-handed. Demons, I called them. Dragons, ghosts, skeletons, monsters. I thought I…
Words for Waking Up
Awake, fresh eyes crack. It hurts for just a second as dawn’s light washes me. After a long, walking sleep, I’m relieved to see the sun again. “Felt like night forever,” I say to her with a bittersweet mix of thanks and regret. “Thank you for waking me.” The monsters lurking in my room transform before me….
Where there was fear now stands love.
I sat at the shore, watching the water come and go. Beside me sat a basket filled with bottles, each one containing a note about my past and my secrets. Something’s wrong with me, one said. It broke me, said another. I can’t forgive myself for it. No one can ever know. For years, I kept the…
This is life, as far as I can see.
As far as I can see, there’s been nothing wrong with me. But all this time, I thought I was broken. All this time, I feared what I might find inside. All this time, I saw myself as unsafe. And all this time, I wondered why I hadn’t fixed it yet. As far as I…
To the voice in my head, I love you.
She’d tell me all the ways I wasn’t enough, and I’d shrink at her words. It’s not big enough, grand enough, fast enough. You’re not smart enough, kind enough, good enough. I don’t feel pleased enough, proud enough, sure enough, she said. I could do anything to set it right, but it was never enough, and…
You are hope. You are your own home. You are LIGHT.
After all this time making herself disappear, she performed the miracle of bringing herself back to life. These are the words I’ve learned for myself, some the rock-bottom hard way, and the words I wrote down in a book I named, There, I Might Find Peace. They’re the words of transformation from darkness to light, hurting…