16/11/2023
Hello friends! 🫶🏼
Have you thought about the power others' words hold over you? You get called a certain name or description enough times and you decide that it must true.
Whether or not it is true, you wear it like it was handmade just for you. Like an itchy turtleneck that doesn't quite fit, you decide to keep it because you've had it forever and can't seem to get rid of it.
The heartbreaking bit is when others play into the narrative alongside you. Instead of uplifting you, encouraging and naming the Truth, they allow their own insecurities or fears to be stitched into your identity. A seam here, a tear there, a pocket on the front.
And if you're like me, that starts to feel very heavy. I get lost in something that I can't find my way out of. It's exhausting. I just grow more tired the harder I fight.
I'm offering you to stop. Just be still. Take some deep breaths. Do you hear your breath? As it enters through your nose and turns in your lungs and releases again as you breathe out? Again and again. Over and over.
Here's what I know--you yourself are a miracle, dear one. The odds of all the timeliness coming together and the milliseconds timed just right to create who you are is simply a miracle. And this world can feel so big sometimes. But you are here in it. A collective part of creation--invited to participate in its wonder and beauty.
I invite you to do one small thing that brings you joy today. Sing worship songs, paint a picture, go on a walk in solitude, dance like a fool in your living room, go for a drive, move your body, bake cookies, journal. Something that centers you. Participate in your creation.
It doesn't have to be grand or a project.
For me, I think I will catch up on the Bible study I've lost track of my place in. Maybe finally make that banana bread I keep telling myself I will make.
I know you're just doing the best you can. We all are ❤️
xo,
Ruby