The journey feels long and never-ending.
May I remember that even when things feel the same, when each day just feels like the day before, or like an even bigger struggle… Even when I cannot sense that there is anything happening…
Change is always there.
And that is why it won’t always be like that.
There have been so many guides. So many opportunities to learn and grow.
A place to be not-so-social.
-Morgan Harper Nichols
Even here, I see light coming in the form of my supportive and loving family, my patient and caring friends, my meaning-filled and gratitude-filled work.
And I want to always believe that even in the darkness, we can make our own light.
I used to think that self-care was some sort of insurance or guarantee.
As long as I practice my self-care routines, set my boundaries, have enough time for my solitude and recharge, I will be fine. I will have problems and life will be shitty from time to time, BUT I will still be be able to go to work daily, make a living doing what I enjoy, while cultivating quality relationships with people important to me – AS LONG AS I PRACTICE SELF-CARE.
The equation has somewhat shifted.
I realise self-care is not something you do in order to prevent upheavals from happening to you.
Self-care is what you fall back on when the upheaval happens.
And I am thankful for the self-care routines and habits I had formed before to fall back on over the past few months – Habits, relationships, activities I do.
And now I am learning that I can try to do more to improve what I already have, so that I can grow in resilience and strength.
This quote resonates with me.
I realise that a significant part of the journey is embracing the imperfect nature of our attempts at perfection, and to take delight in everything that could go wrong, or has gone wrong, or is going wrong right now.
We are imperfect, yet perfectly so.
I sat in front of the images and looked at them for a long time.
Long enough for the kind curator to cautiously approach me and say: “These are abstract images.”
Perhaps she thought I was trying too hard to make sense of them.
And I was… I was trying to make my own meaning out of what I saw.
As we often try to do in life.
