“In my thirties, I learned that there is a type of pain in life that I want to feel. It’s the inevitable, excruciating, necessary pain of losing beautiful things: trust, dreams, health, animals, relationships, people. This kind of pain is the price of love, the cost of living a brave, openhearted life – and I’ll pay for it.”
@GlennonDoyle strikes again. I finally got around to finishing her book, over the weekend, and I am so glad I did… and even more glad I reached for it, again, now. I think last month, I might have chosen a different chapter to underline the crap out of, but yesterday this one spoke directly to my current self. Books have a unique way of finding you alone and speaking familiarity into your confused state… you read these specific collaboration of words you’ve never read before, and yet you know the author “gets you.” You know you could have a conversation with this person and she (or he) would understand…. and as your eyes continue to ingest such wisdom, its apparent that the most remarkable of lives lived came from hard choices made. Bravery isn’t a result of calculation. Bravery comes from having faith in yourself.
At least, that’s what I think Glennon’s been telling me/us.
I’m so glad I prolonged finishing this book until yesterday. Today, I needed her to tell me that life doesn’t always unstitch the way our minds initially crafted. That our conditioned beliefs stand in the way of our becoming, and this affects all of us. That being brave comes from trusting the beats of our hearts. The spoken truths we begin to tell ourselves have to be louder than the disordered ones our society demands from us.
“You are here to decide if your life, relationships, and world are true and beautiful enough for you. And if they are not and you dare to admit they are not, you must decide if you have the guts, the right – perhaps even the duty – to burn to the ground that which is not true and beautiful enough and get started building what is.”
Wow. Just wow. Heartbreak looks like a million things. Nick Hornby, another great author, says, “A human can be a million things in one day.” If you know me well enough, you know none of what I am saying is random. And if you don’t, then I hope these words encourage you to show up for yourself and claim what you want. Read the books. They have good stuff in them and they are powerful. Difficult choices become easier when you stop calculating for the right answer and start building toward your answer.
We’ll never know what the future holds, but there are literary pieces, podcasts, music, art all over the damn place trying to tell us being human is great work. Put your hand out, and let’s build together. And if you’d rather not, here’s a match.
Burn it down.
Start over.
Kirsing 