mainly I think my advice to you is stop trying to exist as an aesthetic, and focus more on creating separate moments of happiness.

stop comparing the hardest moments of your life to the most photogenic moments of others’.

your life is never going to look fully like that painting or photograph or outfit that you love.

but you can fill your days with pieces of it.

Between the flowers crown and the fresh squeezed lemonade and the autumn hikes and the new socks or whatever you love, there will be heartache, bad mental health days, failures, and grief.

That doesn’t mean those moments we treasure and those things which make us happy aren’t worth it. They’re even more important, because they give us good memories to hold onto and hopefully promises to look forward to.

But if we try to live a life that’s only beautiful, we’ll live a life of disappointment. Sometimes life is ugly. Put beauty and happiness where it fits, and they will comfort you in the places where it doesn’t.

there is no audience to perform for, there is no approval, no admiration to attain. there is no role worth playing, there is no one to convince. let it go

Can we please stop associating being a good person with how much you're willing to suffer in silence for other people? You can be a kind person and still say "no, I don't have the time/energy to help you with that." You can be a kind person and still say "this makes me uncomfortable, please stop." You can be a kind person and still say "I disagree and here's why." You can be kind and still say "I'm not okay with this." Being kind is about treating people with kindness and respect, not about being the human equivalent of a doormat!

“Does the sun ask itself, “Am I good? Am I worthwhile? Is there enough of me?” No, it burns and it shines. Does the sun ask itself, “What does the moon think of me? How does Mars feel about me today?” No it burns, it shines. Does the sun ask itself, “Am I as big as other suns in other galaxies?” No, it burns, it shines.”

— Andrea Dworkin, Our blood: prophecies and discourses on sexual politics (1976)

How liberating it is to pursue wholeness instead of perfection

there is no old self to get back to there’s a new u to create n nurture