You are an Ocean.

Your soul is deep, vast, and unending.

There is so much we do not know about you.

We look on in awe of your beauty, your mystery, your great unexplored depths, and your vastness.

Not everybody will understand this about you.

Some will look on at you from a distance and be content with thinking they have seen it all.

Some will dare to onto the beach but flee when you playfully lap at their feet.

Some might paddle around your edges, or swim to their waist whilst their feet never leave the ground.

Then others will get in the boat, explore your surface, and then deep dive into the person that you are seeking to satisfy what they could never figure out from the distance, from the beach, from the shores.

The latter takes time, energy, and effort. It takes skill, a respect, and an acceptance of your wild ways.

Not everybody will get you. And not everybody deserves to.

Delight in your mystery.

I was in the supermarket the other day when the customer in front of me tried to pay with cash.

“I’m sorry,” said the cashier. “I can only accept cards at the moment because of Coronavirus.”

And, just like that, their money was obsolete. For the first time in my life, someone refused cash and deemed it worthless.

You see, something only has value if you give it value. Whatever you deem worthy is what becomes worthy. Whatever you deem unworthy no longer gets your attention, energy, or your time.

So much of life is lived on autopilot and we allow those external to us, the systems of power we are enmeshed in, to tell us what is important to us. We have someone shout “Look this way! This is important!” and we look and say “Yes, I guess it is important.”

But is it?

Open your eyes. Consciously show up. Look around you. What do you deem valuable?
Take back the reigns. You start determining for yourself what is worthy of your time, attention, focus, energy, and devotion. Start living life on your terms.

Sometimes, there will be a synchronicity with what society/family/friends/everyone else says is important. We will look and say “I saw. I agree. That is important.” Other times, we will say “I saw and I don’t agree. That is not important for me. Thank you for suggesting it anyway.” The latter will disrupt the status quo, might upset some people, or might confuse others…

Let the status quo be disrupted.
Let them be upset.
Let them be confused.

Start seeing for yourself. Look through the lens of your own eyes.

You are in charge of what you see as valuable.

We have this unconscious idea that there is a perfect version of us we must strive toward.

They are the invisible ones who do everything without fault, with perfect grace, and with complete devotion.

It is good to strive to become better but what would happen if you stopped believing the bullshit and chose to know this:

There is no perfect version of you that exists in some far off future.

There is just you, here, today, trying your best.

You, doing the work to overcome the trauma.
You, going inwards to do the healing.
You, loving others in the way that you can.
You, wanting to love yourself entirely.

And slowly, day by day, you transform. Not into perfection but into something better…

The truest and most beautifully authentic version of you.

Are you not enough, my darling?

I think you are.

I think that you are more than enough.

I think that you deserve to be fully present with yourself because you are one of the greatest people you’ve ever met.

And if, day by day, you are doing the work to draw nearer to yourself then that means the truest and most beautifully authentic version of you is sat here, right now, reading these words.

What if you stopped chasing the illusive perfect future you and just let yourself simply…be?

Invite compassion.
Practice acceptance.
Be here now.

I grew up near a river. In summer, my friend and I would walk by the side of the river as far as we could go until we found a small shore. Then, wearing our hardiest shoes, we would step in and walk upstream.

It was cold, it was deep, and it was downright dangerous if I’m honest. There were plenty of rocks to be wary of, and the depths would change with each step; sometimes it was ankle deep, and the next moment you were wading up to your thighs. Sometimes the water was calm, clear, and serene. Other times, the water rushed and churned.

Rivers are wonderful. Think of how they begin with such a small trickle at the top of the mountain and slowly, carefully, meander their way through the country. Carving paths. Gaining momentum. Expanding. Claiming the land and the path they have carved as their own.

You are the river, my darling.

You carve paths where there are none to be found. You take the sharpest stone and erode it into a smooth surface. You reflect the sun and shimmer on a calm day, whilst you rage and explode on others. You are the paradox. You keep moving, never ceasing, never stagnating. You are unpredictable, wild, and no one could have foreseen how much you would grow from the small trickle they misunderstood you as.

When opportunities in life come your way – bend them to your will. Seek the chances to become stronger, to understand yourself, to carve the path where there was none before, to rage over the sharpest of rocks and have them become smooth underneath your mighty ways. When the rains pour on you, swell and erode the banks that contain you in order to make more space for yourself the next time the storms come.

Yes, you are the river. Consistent. Steadfast. Deceptively strong. Undeniable beautiful. But, ever onwards…

Always onwards.

I want you to think of your last act of bravery.

The thing that you spent days, weeks, months preparing for.
The thing that you were most afraid of doing – but you did it anyway.

Remember how it felt?

The fear. The trembling. The butterflies in the stomach. The sweat on the palms. The sound of your own heart beating tremendously in your ears.

The euphoria. The release. The overwhelming feeling of having done it. The walks on cloud nine. The spring in your step. The sense of pride in yourself.

No matter how small the act, no matter how insignificant by comparison.

It was your courage.

Yes, remember…

Now, harness that same energy and pour it all over your life. Let it trickle down into every corner, every cavern, every secret place within and without you. Let it flood everything…

Because if you can do just one courageous act in your life, you can grab hold of that same energy and apply it to absolutely anything, anytime you need it, in any moment that it is necessary.

That energy lives inside you always. It is not a bolt from the blue. It is the electricity already within you.

You, my dear, are unstoppable.