âLetâs promise each other something: because darling, oh darling. I know you want to press pause on the movie that is your life, because I do, I do. And I know you sometimes get so tired of carrying the weight of the world on those slim shoulders. I know you look into the mirror and see plain features and feel roaring waves of inadequacy, I know, I know. I know youâve got a little voice whispering inside of you youâll never be good enough. I know you try to protect yourself, to shield yourself to not care because you fear the heartbreak that comes with caring to much but doing this makes you put yourself on the sidelines, makes people stop inviting you and I know, God, I know how much this hurts. So letâs promise each other something: whenever this happens, this little voice trying so hard to protect us and only winding up hurting us: letâs promise each other to cry a little, to cry a lot. To take a shower, to listen to music and really, truly listen, think about nothing else. To write about wanting to give up but to keep on going, to eat something healthy too, even if we eat up a whole pack of potato chips or chocolate cookies, to grant ourselves this small reprieve instead of hating ourselves afterwards for the way we can pinch our belly between skinny fingers. Listen to me, please, letâs promise each other to take a walk, to walk past a bridge or a body of water, to admire the darkness but remember the coldness and to keep on going. Remember that stranger that smiled, the one that helped you reach a high shelve, that picked up some change and gave it back, to remember the bus driver that waited on that busy intersection to let you get on, to remember all those little kindnesses from strangers youâll never forget and to remember that we, too, have got so many little kindnesses to give and that there must be a stranger out there somewhere that remembers these plain features, these brown eyes and not so white teeth. Letâs promise each other, that, please, please, but letâs also promise each other to sometimes let go and cry and to look after ourselves. Letâs remember that being kind and nice and good does not mean letting people walk over ourselves. And letâs define ourselves: if we like to be alone, sometimes, if we like to close the curtains against the world and drown in music and song, why be jealous of that one friend that is always talking to someone if the mere idea of holding more than three conversations is exhausting. If you love that girl everyone else seems to find annoying, hold steady to it, say âI like her and I like you and is there a problem?â because nothing will feel worse, and of this I am so absolutely certain, nothing will feel worse than betraying yourself. Darling please, letâs promise each other, that on those lowest moments, on those darkest nights, when we feel like no one will love us ever, weâll think of our achievements, even if they were something that feels so small and insignificant, like eating one cookie less or getting out of bed, if we were proud of them they matter and so do we. So do we. And letâs promise each other weâll think of our families, or about the friends weâve had and that even though it always felt like we were the second choice, we were a choice, so they wanted us in their lives. Letâs think of the stranger we once helped, and think that maybe they remember us. Letâs think of the things that we love, and letâs think about the fact that the CO2 we expel from our lungs feed plants and bacteria and that we matter. That we have done some good in this world and that hopefully weâll be able to do some more. That everything will be all right someday as long as we keep going. Darling, letâs promise each other, that though we are strangers that may have never met, Iâll love you and youâll love me, and weâll think about each other sometimes, because we understand each other so perfectly, because I know that voice in your head as well as you know the ache in my bones and the tiredness of my eyelids, and weâll keep on existing and breathing and loving and not giving up no matter how many times our heart breaks because we know they are not alone in breaking and so maybe, just maybe, they will not be alone in healing either because we will have each other to think of, to remember and to smile through the tears together.â
amandla
theartofmadeline
stormborns
izzy806
