I believe you need to be strong. I believe you need to love yourself. And you have to fight for yourself and what you deserve. I believe you should be able to tuck yourself into bed at night, with no one next to you, and fall asleep in love with your life. And wake up hopeful for what's still to come and grateful for what you already have. I believe you should go to the movies by yourself every once and a while. I believe you should laugh loudly when watching something funny alone in your house. You need to be able to stand on your own two feet and find happiness whether you are in a crowd of a hundred, or stranded on a deserted island. I believe you should be able to break down hard and wipe away your own tears, or scream loudly to yourself about the struggles of life in your car.
But I don't believe we are intended to do it all alone always. Our lives are a group project, and everyone we meet, good or bad, plays their part in creating the lives we are destined to live.
I have met quite a few people lately with this 'survive it all alone' mentality. And sure, we all die alone or whatever. But every day you get up and every moment you experience you make a decision of whether to face those things by yourself, or to grab onto the love and light in the people around you and amplify those experiences through shared emotion, inspiration, and support. It's not always about having someone there to push you through it, some times it's just having someone there to watch you succeed. To celebrate your victories, and to grieve your losses and failures. We don't need people in our lives to make us whole, but we need people in our lives to make it count.
I love big. I love so big that I get my heart smashed into bits in front of me more than I like to admit to. But could you imagine the alternative? I love so big that when I do need help, I have an army of people behind me moving mountains to help me get to where I need to be. And when I accomplish something amazing for myself, I am surrounded by hearts as full as mine that I did something great. It has allowed me to be apart of the most crucial moments of other people's lives as well. Moments that they will look back on forever and my smile will be engraved in those memories as strongly as theirs are engraved in mine.
I have a blog from years ago titled "Who's Standing Next to You When All Your Dreams Come True?" and it's been a resounding theme in my life for years. Because imagine it, imagine you get everything you've ever wanted in your life tomorrow, but no one was there. Not a friend, no family, no LOVE, how does it feel? Not to say your successes are for other people, but it's the pride and joy and love you receive from the world around you that makes your success real. Makes it alive.
You can keep the world at arm's length from your heart. That is a sure fire way to make sure no one ever lets you down, disappoints you, or even worse, leaves you. But you make a choice to live a life less fulfilled when you block yourself off that way.
Live with an open heart. Know that the hurt you feel when your vulnerability blows up in your face goes away. Because in my experience the hurt is always temporary. And the love, even the love of those I have lost, is very permanent. And I wouldn't change that for the world.
We're not supposed to do it alone.
