so this really interesting thing happened.
i moved home. ended a relationship. moved back in with my parents. started a crazy (and wonderful) new job.... and all of a sudden it was a year later. most literally.
something brought me back here. some force in the universe knew i needed to be back where i could write. whether it was a spiritual force, or my own internal workings, knowing truly what is best.
either way, i'm here. and that's exactly where i need to be.
my manager recently told me that i need to learn to forgive myself. i need to learn to let myself feel, and i need to learn to let myself take a punch - not to brace for it, and then pretend it never happened... but instead to absorb the hit, cry a bit, nurse my wounds, and then get back up with a scar that reminds me how tough i am (he didn't tell me so elaborately - i took some liberties there).
so turns out scars are like little flags we get to wave once we conquer the battle. and each little mountain we come across, we can dig that flag into the ground, fight the good fight, and pick our flag up and move on.
but listen. those battles hurt. they get dirty, and people don't fight fair, and things happen when you least expect it. they leave you crying, and doubting, and shameful and hurt. and at the end of the day, you wince everytime someone says 'remember that everything happens for a reason. because we all know. and we all know in the end it will be ok'
without needing a reminder from an optimistic commentator. BUT (and here's the 'but' that i was told for years to replace with 'and') that doesn't make the hurt, or the anger, or the frustration, or the shame, or the complete and wretched sadness stop in that moment. it gives a glimmer of light on the other end of the bridge, but you still have to cross that bridge. you don't get to miraculously fly across it.
(excuse my overindulgence in allegorical language).
and now, we're here. we're all here, in this one day, together. we all took different paths to get here, and there were many monsters, and gems along the way. and i'll start from that.
to a new beginning... with the rigidity and understanding of the scars from the journey.