Disgrace

by Brittainy C. Cherry

“Someday, somewhere—anywhere, unfailingly, you’ll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.” -Pablo Neruda

Love was a messy emotion that didn’t walk a straight line. It worked in waves and loops of ups and downs. It was a screwy emotion that could somehow still exist amidst the ultimate heartbreak and betrayal.

It was nice to know that even when I felt alone, there was something bigger than me to believe in.

“Those times you feel lost and afraid and weak—those are your moments for a breakthrough. Hidden beneath those dark moments is your power. Take those weak moments and make them powerful.

Sometimes, people needed to believe what they needed to believe to get through each day.

There was no better feeling than falling in love with people you’d never truly meet, yet still, they felt like family.

they cannot steal your happily ever after. It’s yours, after all. Just because it didn’t come to you the way you thought it would doesn’t mean that it’s not on its way.”

I never acted out, no matter how tempted I was, because I feared how it would affect others’ lives. I worried how people would label me. I was afraid of how others would view me if I did certain things they deemed ungraceful. I lived my whole life quietly, staying in line in order to live the life Mama taught me I was supposed to live.

“It’s a strange thing, though,” she told me. “What is?” “When my Prince Charming is the rest of the world’s Beast.”

You have to find yourself. You have to have your own back. Otherwise, you’ll spend your life trying to be everything for everyone else, and one hundred percent of the time, you’ll still not be enough. So, you gotta choose yourself.

sometimes for the blessings to arrive, one had to get out of their own way.