It’s Almost As If Nobody Wants To Admit That They Might Not Be Prepared To Do The Work It Takes To

another year is ending and I want you to know that it is okay if you:

have not healed from the things that happened/did not happen from six months ago. just because the year is ending it does not mean your grief is too.

don't have any "fun" NYE plans to ring in the new year. this life is yours to live across days and months and years, and you can celebrate days other than the ones heavily marketed and shoved down your throat to shroud you in severe FOMO.

have no resolutions or goals for 2024 laid out in elaborate lists or shared on social media or with your friends. you are braving through this life trying to do your best every day and hold the fort and so of course you know, deep down you know what is needed from you for you going forward and of course you are going to work in that direction. good luck love.

have not become a "better" version of yourself by any of the tangible or conventional measures. that kind of bettering is mostly to serve others, not yourself.

are not happy with yourself/your life as it is now. you're a work-in-progress, remember? and if you're progressing in a direction you do not like, then it's time to change the blueprints and the strategy.

take time off social media around this time to protect your mental health and whatever little joy you have managed to keep.

don't want to spend too much time reflecting on how this past year went and doing various forms of 2023-wrapped. again, it's your life. you can also revisit this year in memories and pictures and feelings whenever you'd like. it's not like you don't still visit 2012, 2017, and 2022, right?

feel disconnected from your friends, family, lover. I know this is "ideally" a time to be celebrated with your loved ones. but life is not ideal, is it? it's just life. and if right now you are not feeling the love, the joy, or just don't have the headspace or social energy to engage , that's alright.

are finding comfort in simpler things like a TV show from the 90s or that book you first read at sixteen or that slice of strawberry cake or a random post like this you come across.

don't feel hopeful, encouraged, or excited for 2024. given everything that's happened in the last couple of years, on the macro and micro level, it's only natural for you to feel weary as well as wary. when the good things happen, when the healing happens, when things begin working in your favour over time, you will automatically feel all those things. it's okay if until then you choose to be neutral.

A better girl

She’ll be sitting on the swing reading a new book waiting for you,

She’ll smile as you walk towards her, her eyes reflecting the sun’s hue,

She’ll be the warm bonfire in the snow in January,

She’ll keep your roses alive in her flower vase in February,

I promise you one day she’ll be a better girl.

She’ll have a laughter enough to bring the party back to life,

She’ll sing the songs she once wrote, and dance without any strife,

She’ll turn your ashes into burning flames of fire,

She’ll bring her words back to life, and they dance to the rhymes of the choir,

I promise you, for now she’s broken but she’ll be a better girl,

She’ll learn to love herself, she’ll slay the dragons and save herself,

She’ll climb the mountains she made herself, she’ll be the queen of her bookshelf,

She’ll dream once again, of love, like a child who is unmindful of deceit,

She’ll be playful, merry and flawed but still complete,

I promise you, even though her nights are moonless now, she’ll be a better girl.

i love you, still, i’m sorry it’s not enough

1. silas denver melvin (@sweatermuppet) // 2. miren asiain lora // 3. nikki giovanni // 4. uma thurman // 5. @postsecret // 6. yves olade // 7. sufjan stevens via @promqueendyke // 8. anonymous response on a uquiz // 9. li-young lee // 10. @lovelornnn // 11. @heavensghost // 12. the avett brothers

we really went from "women and girls can do anything" to im just a girl i only do girl math im a passenger princess i dont drive i dont eat i just do haha girl dinner im so sillyyyy i wear makeup bc i want to i also try and define all women into categories that are marketable omg what if we were just girls and we were so useless and helpless

pulling an all nighter and going to my 8am exam is going to be the stupidest idea ever. don't lead by my example guys. I am incredibly stupid sometimes.

“how did you get into writing” girl nobody gets into writing. writing shows up one day at your door and gets into you

sometimes the moral of the story really is just "you cannot go back and what happened to you is going to be with you for the rest of your life. but it's still going to be okay" huh

“Anybody can look at you. It’s quite rare to find someone who sees the same world you see.”

— John Green, Turtles All the Way Down

american women your objective for the next four years is to make men miserable. exacerbate that male lonliness epidemic as much as you possibly can.