Page Turner's Blog, page 51

It’s Easy to Conclude You’re Annoying, When Maybe You’re Just Patient

“Shut up.” “Do you have to be so annoying?”

I don’t have that kind of bravery, the one that lets you dismiss other people. The one that compels you to tell them to shut up. Or to let them know that they’re being annoying.

Or that at least that’s what you think.  » Read more

The post It’s Easy to Conclude You’re Annoying, When Maybe You’re Just Patient appeared first on Poly.Land.

I Did Not Want to Be Married to Someone I Didn’t Like

Sometimes I can hardly believe it. Every day I get to wake up and be with you. I get to spend my days with someone who wants to actually be with me. A best friend that I’m also attracted to. Someone who laughs with me at the dumb shared private jokes we tell back and forth.  » Read more

The post I Did Not Want to Be Married to Someone I Didn’t Like appeared first on Poly.Land.

Sometimes Forgetting Is Good for a Relationship; Other Times It Isn’t

I had an unsettling experience recently. While cleaning my desk, I stumbled upon a cache of notes and cards from my husband. I’d clearly saved them for a reason. There were a few encouraging cards with lovely things written on the front — and in about half of them lovely things written in my husband’s handwriting inside.  » Read more

The post Sometimes Forgetting Is Good for a Relationship; Other Times It Isn’t appeared first on Poly.Land.

I Consider Myself Very Successful for a Failure

When it comes to my living situation and my love life, I’m easily the happiest I’ve ever been.

I like my job. I love my home. And I adore the person (and animals) I share my home with.

By a lot of metrics, I’m very successful. I’ve built a very stable life that makes me happy.  » Read more

The post I Consider Myself Very Successful for a Failure appeared first on Poly.Land.

The Stories We Tell Ourselves Matter

It isn’t just what happens to you. It’s how you interpret it. The lessons you learn. The way you talk to yourself about what has happened and apply that experience to the future.

The stories we tell ourselves matter. About what has happened to us, about what is currently going on, about what tomorrow might bring.  » Read more

The post The Stories We Tell Ourselves Matter appeared first on Poly.Land.

I Never Knew that Grief Could Physically Hurt So Much

In the space below, draw yourself, and highlight where you feel your grief physically. (It doesn’t matter if you’re a shitty artist. Just put something on the page.) Is it an ache in your chest, a sinking in your stomach, a twisting in your head?

–Steve Case, F**k Death Workbook

*

In the early days,  » Read more

The post I Never Knew that Grief Could Physically Hurt So Much appeared first on Poly.Land.

I Didn’t Expect to Fall in Love When I Moved to Texas, But Here I Am

The first time you asked me, “How would you feel about moving to Texas?” I laughed.

I thought you were joking.

Because there was nothing on the surface that had ever called to me about Texas. And there were enough stereotypes about it being unsafe there for people who were different…  » Read more

The post I Didn’t Expect to Fall in Love When I Moved to Texas, But Here I Am appeared first on Poly.Land.

Going Through Terrifying Things Teaches You How to Be Brave

If only wonderful and amazing things happen to you, you will never learn to be brave.

–Steve Case, F**k Death Workbook

*

As I’m approaching my fourth anniversary of posting an essay every single day (which will fall on 9/1/2020), I find myself looking back and realizing all the things I didn’t know about writing in public before I set out.  » Read more

The post Going Through Terrifying Things Teaches You How to Be Brave appeared first on Poly.Land.

What Will You Lose If You Fix Certain “Problems?”

“You have to be careful about what you fix….If you irrigate a desert, you might empty a sea. It’s a complicated business, fixing things.”

-Percival Everett, “The Fix”

*

I’ve been doing a lot of soul searching lately. It’s easy to get comfortable when nothing changes for a while.  » Read more

The post What Will You Lose If You Fix Certain “Problems?” appeared first on Poly.Land.

Life Is Better When You Don’t Ignore the Tough Ones

“Why is it that people are so quick to throw everything away to cling to someone needy, high maintenance, and dysfunctional?” she asks me.

“I ask for so little,” she continues. “I take care of my own needs and do my best to try to be flexible. It’s not always easy, but I know it’s what I want when I’m on the other side of things.  » Read more

The post Life Is Better When You Don’t Ignore the Tough Ones appeared first on Poly.Land.