Some words find you at exactly the right moment. These did.
January 2014. I was somewhere in the middle of the hardest season I’d been through, trying to figure out who I was on the other side of everything that had just fallen apart. I wasn’t looking for grand revelations — I was just trying to get through the days without losing myself completely.
I found this collection of quotes from Huffington Post and sat with them for a long time. Nine pieces of advice from women and men who had clearly also sat with hard things. I’m keeping them here because they still hold up.
The following quotes are sourced from Huffington Post.
“There’s a place in you that you must keep inviolate. You must keep it pristine. Clean. So that nobody has a right to curse you or treat you badly. Nobody. No mother, father, no wife, no husband, no — nobody. You have to have a place where you say: Stop it. Back up. Don’t you know I’m a child of God?” — Dr. Maya Angelou
This one I kept coming back to. The idea that there’s a part of you that belongs only to you — that no one gets to touch without your permission. It took me a while to actually believe I had that place inside me, let alone protect it.
“Share with people who’ve earned the right to hear your story.” — Dr. Brené Brown
Not everyone deserves the full version of what you’ve been through. I learned this the hard way — sharing too much with the wrong people, then feeling more exposed than supported. Choose carefully.
“Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person’s face as you pass on the street: those faces are for you. Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing.” — Miranda July
On the mornings when everything felt heavy, this one helped.
“The more room you give yourself to express your true thoughts and feelings, the more room there is for your wisdom to emerge.” — Marianne Williamson
Which is partly why I kept writing through all of it. Not because I had answers, but because writing made space for them to eventually appear.
“Whatever you do in life, remember: Think higher and feel deeper. It cannot be bad if you do that.” — Elie Wiesel
“Perhaps the noblest private act is the unheralded effort to… open our hearts once they’ve closed, to open our souls once they’ve shied away.” — Mark Nepo
The quiet, unseen work of choosing to stay open when everything in you wants to shut down. That’s the hardest kind of courage.
“Most unhappy people need to learn just one lesson: how to see themselves through the lens of genuine compassion and treat themselves accordingly.” — Martha Beck
I am very bad at this. I’m still working on it.
“No one feels strong when she examines her own weakness. But in facing weakness, you learn how much there is in you, and you find real strength.” — Pat Summitt
“Love liberates. Love — not sentimentality, not mush — but true love gives you enough courage that you can say to somebody, ‘Don’t do that, baby.’ And the person will know you’re not preaching but teaching.” — Dr. Maya Angelou
The kind of love worth waiting for. The kind worth becoming worthy of, too.
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