Life As It Happens: from facebook words

I remembered so many times I tried to beg for something I was so sure I didn't need before - love, sympathy, acceptance.

I was too desperate for attention and warmth, which made me do things I wasn't proud of. All those times I thought I needed to do more - to give more - when in fact I was only lacking the simplest of words.

"I'll be here for you no matter what."

"Don't worry, you're doing okay."

"You're enough."

I waited for a lot of people from my past to personally tell those words. To look me in the eye and speak to me with utter sincerity. To acknowledge me as I am, not because I'm convenient but because I matter.

I craved those words from people who are incapable of saying them, and when the time came when I spoke about it, the only answer they gave me was absence. Desolation.

I was left for being too needy.

I never was.

Seems like I was just asking the wrong people. Finding out that there are those who can willingly give me assurance without anything in return.

Oh to be loved wholeheartedly for being exactly who I am. I wonder if it's worth another risk.

I'm learning to be happy again. Little by little.

It's true. No matter how much we deny it, we all require the kindest of words to keep our souls well-fed and alive.

You deserve assurance.

We all do.

So please, don't take people around you for granted.

Speak up. Before it's too late.

-words and art by Duncan

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I promise that you can build a beautiful life for yourself,

even if your life has fallen apart,

even if things surrounding you

have come crashing down,

and even if the foundations of your life

have crumbled and fallen away.

I promise that you can build a beautiful life for yourself,

even if people have walked out of your life

or have chosen to reject you,

leaving you feeling abandoned, isolated and alone.

I promise that you can build a beautiful life for yourself,

even if your greatest hopes and dreams have been dashed

and shattered to pieces,

and the future seems bleak and uncertain.

And I promise that you can build a beautiful life for yourself,

even if your life as you know it

has fallen to shambles.

Because your ability to create

is far more powerful

than life’s ability to destroy you.

Your ability to regrow

is far greater

than life’s ability to damage you.

And your ability to regenerate

is far stronger

than life’s ability to break you.

And you can take the rubble and ruins

of what remains in your life

and use it to build a tower

that is even bigger and more beautiful than before.

And I promise that you can build a beautiful life for yourself,

as while things will come tumbling down in your life,

life can never keep you knocked down,

as you can always rebuild,

and that is your greatest power.

Words by Tahlia Hunter

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Can we please stop pretending?
I'm tired of this estrangement game we play.
Lord knows I've tried to move on.
I've found sanctuaries alongside strangers more times than I can count.
Trying to fill the space you left in me.
Trying to replace what once was,
with whatever might be.
And still, no matter what I do, no matter how far I stray, one issue remains -
none of them are you.
If we're capable of growing apart,
we're capable of growing together.
There's so much history behind us that I'm a fool for the future.
You cling to the worst of us.
I focus on the best of us.
And maybe somewhere between those two
is somewhere safe for me and you.
I'm not afraid to fight.
We've gotten it wrong so many times that maybe it's taught us what's right.
You loved me at my ugliest.
To me,
you've always been the most beautiful thing I've held.
So,
forgive me for showing up at your door again, at this hour.
When I realized I was free to go anywhere in the world,
with you was still the only place
I wanted to be.

J. Raymond

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