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But the people who linger on the edge, looking down, the people who pick up the phone and reach out for help? Most of the time, you can talk them down. They are looking for a way back to the light.
We broadcast one version of ourselves, cropped and filtered and out there for consumption. But the real person is hidden behind that.”
Because it’s what you do with your life that matters. It’s not about how you look. Because you don’t have to be perfect. No one is. You are enough. You are more than enough. And it’s time to get real.”
Maybe you’re still friends with people even after they hurt you, even if they keep hurting you. Because there’s something there. Something true and deep that stays even when it aches.
I saw something in you, she told me later. The knowledge. Of life and all its pain, the decision to stick around and do better. That’s what heroism is, you know? It’s not goodness. It’s not bravery. Not just. It’s the courage to keep fighting, keep trying to be a light in the darkness even when you’ve failed at that already.
It’s hard to explain forgiveness to people in the throes of pain, clinging to the way things are supposed to be, should have been. Forgiveness is not saying that certain deeds are acceptable or forgotten. Forgiveness is an acknowledgment that we are all deeply flawed, and some of us make terrible mistakes or do horrible things. But to cling to rage, hatred, or grief, to rail against what is or has been, is to kill yourself again and again, rob yourself of what life you have left, what good you can still do.
“When you compare your messy three-dimensional life to the filtered and curated two-dimensional version of everyone else you see on social media, you’re not getting the whole picture. Real life is what happens between those posts. And you only know the version people show you on Instagram. It’s a fiction. And I guarantee every single one of those perfect people you see out there is feeling as lost and insecure as you are.”
