The Scarlet Garden

Whatever comes to mind, and all my guilty pleasures.

[thescarletgarden1990]

[arach-tinilith]

i think its a lil sad how often people will like restrain themselves from exploring new identities and hobbies because they don't want it to be an "embarrassing phase" because honestly i think its way cooler to have a diverse and varied lifestyle that you can look back on and say "omg i used to love doing that!" and apply those skills and interests to something else.

[nature-travel-photography]

Marble Caves on General Carrera Lake, Patagonia, Chile *[1080x1920 - Author: Jasmine_jadee

[pmamtraveller]

Robert McGinnis - "Wuthering Heights" (c. 1974)

[pmamtraveller]

"forget me not" by Luca Ponsato

[radical-revolution]

[cenneidi]

do it grieving

[cenneidi]

do it while the ground falls out from under you; do it while everything you loved goes up in smoke; do it while the dream of your future is still burning embers around you; build anew on the hot ashes of everything you worked for; keep going, keep loving, keep living, even as all you want is to turn back (there is no turning back; it is gone already); do it through grief, which feels like fear in the body

do it grieving

[cenneidi]

The tag I have seen most often on this post is "I needed to hear this," and I am so, so grateful to have said something that was needed. These words came out of the depths of my own grief, and I am so grateful to have made this small connection with others in the midst of it. Grief is isolating and indescribable, but none of us are alone.

That said, these tags were what I needed to hear:

we're all gonna make it

it's okay if you can't see how yet. you don't have to believe in better. for now it is enough to just keep going, and eventually the path will emerge. you are not alone. you are not lost in the woods forever. keep going. I love you.

[spaceshipsandpurpledrank]

[zigdirty]

We're not leaving this gem to languish in the comments:

[nobrashfestivity]

Franz von Stuck, The Sin, 1893

[godwantsit]

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

getting older can be so amazing? you get more familiar with yourself. learn tips & tricks for troubleshooting your own brain. trial & error helps you build routines that minimize discomfort, maximize reward. your preferences/interests don't get set in stone, but you do find out which ones are going to stay with you in the long-term, and which ones are fun but transient joys to appreciate in the moment.

you learn that the world is so much more complex than you were taught, and that that's okay, and that there's an endless supply of things you can learn or watch or experience or think about if you want to. if you're lucky, you loosen up, stop putting so much pressure on yourself. if you're lucky, you learn to recognize that negative inner voice, and whack it with a baseball bat until it hushes up. if you're lucky, you learn to treat yourself gently, not because you are fragile but because you are worthy of gentleness. (i hope you are lucky.)

and some things will change. some things will get better. some things will get good. and maybe you start to recover from the dehumanizing stress of childhood/education. maybe you learn the power of your own autonomy. maybe you learn how to walk away from bad situations (which is a superpower even if you don't realize it yet). and you get to choose your own clothes. and your own food. and which relationships to pursue! and what you do with your free time. and with your life (but don't worry you get to choose that gradually). and that's crazy! and sometimes scary. and extraordinarily, indescribably precious.

[biggest-gaudiest-poltergeist]

bitches needed to hear this huh ♥ (you're bitches)

[kaylmao]

idk i would personally rather give up access to certain products seasonally or locally than have people enslaved to give me the ability to have any product any place any time. i think i can go without tomatoes in january.

[pietroleopoldo]

The thing is that I am not a pervert by any means but I am normal about other people's sex lives and desires which apparently still makes me a pervert according to a large chunk of society

[pietroleopoldo]

They tell me of this straight couples owning five dildos that they both use as if it were something scandalous and I am the weird one for saying "good for them"

[pmamtraveller]

The Sorrows of Satan, dir. D. W. Griffith, 1926

[pmamtraveller]

Strikingly lifelike mid-13th century sculptures by the anonymous sculptor known as the Naumburg Master

[pmamtraveller]

Edward John Poynter

[pmamtraveller]

9th century female torso