I was scrolling through Twitter the other night when an update popped up:
“It’s been a night, is what I’m saying.”
Then I saw another from someone else:
“Having a really really really really bad fucking day.”
A week ago I saw an Instagram post that carried a similar tone:
“…And I’m trying. But I can’t do it all.”
I read a post from a dear friend that was titled Casseroles for Depression.
Jenny Lawson has Furiously Happy on the New York Times Best Seller list.
The reality is that for all the people complaining that Facebook is a waste land of carefully constructed, emotionally inaccurate representations of people and their lives, there are many ripples in social media and day to day life that are honest declarations of pain, struggle, and faltering hope.
When I saw this quote shared by my friend Lotus, I inhaled sharply, feeling the clarifying sting of a remarkable truth. I do not say this to dismiss anyone trying to get through something, but rather to emphasize how much we are all going through.
We are not our pain.
We are not our shitty days.
We have not failed if we aren’t over it or are still dealing with it. It isn’t wrong if you talk about it or if you prefer not to.
Whether we are struggling to find the energy to nod our heads or sprinting from something, our inherent worth never fades.
Your worth never fades.
I promise.
Yes. Yes. Yes. And my copy of Furiously Happy just arrived yesterday. Can’t wait to read it. I was thinking of this same concept, the one of a Real Social Media revolution. I look forward to so many of my friends’ posts, honest reflections and real-life-moments. I think you know this already, but do you know how much I adore you? xo
I think I do know and I assure you, it is matched on my end for you.
Such a good reminder.
I am reading one of Pema Chodron’s books right now, and this passage is in it. I cannot tell you how many times I have already gone back and read it over and over again. It unlocked something for me, and it felt huge. And I knew that I had to share it. I’d been working on processing that image I paired it with for awhile, and the title would not come to me, but the feeling of the image was there every time I worked on it a little more. It super clicked for me the other day and I knew those words went with that image, and I was so excited to share that passage because it means so much to me right now. I have had a shit couple of days myself, and I’m leaning hard on currently!
Thanks for being a part of the sea of real people with lives full of tangled emotions and and huge hearts who I call part of my community of friends. I am so glad you’re out there, making space for love and healing in the world. XO
Thank you, Lotus, for this and a million other things.
Beautiful, powerful, and important words.