We have to believe in the power of the small things. In the comfort of a cup of coffee, in the calming view of sunrise, in hearing our mother’s voice on the other end of the phone after a long day. We have to believe that we can overcome whatever weight life ropes to our spines, whatever circumstances our choices or our shortcomings throw our way.

We have to believe in love, we have to believe that we are worthy of it, that we are deserving of being chosen despite the insecurity or the flaws or the mistakes. We have to believe in our ability to take care of the people we care about, we have to believe that we are enough for them.

We have to believe that we have permission to be whomever the hell we want to be, that we have the capacity to be truly, and deeply, happy. We have to believe that we aren’t alone, that people see us for who we are and what we have the potential to be.

If we’re going to make it, we have to believe that we are growing. We have to believe that we are meant to be here.

- Unknown ...

Healing is weird. Some days you’re okay and you’re doing just fine. Other days it still hurts like it’s fresh. It’s a process with no definitive time frame.

You just have to keep going and know that when all is said and done, you are going to be okay. 💛💛
- Unknown ...

In this world, there are things you can only do alone, and things you can only do with somebody else. It's important to combine the two in just the right amount.
― Haruki Murakami, After Dark ...

Books were safer than people anyway.
- Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane ...

My growth came when I realized that I don’t have to experience life the way I have been told to.

Growth is painful. Change is painful.But nothing is as painful as staying stuck somewhere you don’t belong.

— Mandy Hale ...

“Every word has consequences. Every silence, too.”

― Jean Paul Sartre, The Selected Essays

🖼 illustration source: https://ego-alterego.com/illustration-by-dom-dom/ ...

Sometimes you have to live day by day. Nothing in life is guaranteed. What's yours today might not be yours tomorrow. And what you're working for towards tomorrow, might not be yours tomorrow. You can't control what the world brings your way in return for what you do.

You can only control what you do. So if you have anything to say, say it. If you have something to do, do it. If you have a place to go, go to it. Because tomorrow, you might not be here. The other person might not be here.

That place might not be here. And you will live with the regret, knowing that you missed moments that you could've have been doing and saying and going — and you didn't.

Stop waiting for the perfect moments and don't allow the coldness and hardness of this world to make you believe that what you have to say or do is not important.
— Najwa Zebian ...

Every single time you were convinced something would be the end for you, you find a way to get through it.

Every single time you thought you couldn't survive something, you preserved. Every single time you were convinced that something would get you down for good, you survived it and find a way to push through.

Despite everything life has thrown at you, you're still here. No matter how much you're struggling, you still wake up every morning and do your best with what you have.

Give yourself some credit. You're a lot stronger than you realize.

— compassionatereminders.tumblr.com ...

“People change. Feelings change. It doesn’t mean that the love once shared wasn’t true or real. It simply means that sometimes when people grow, they grow apart.”

500 Days of Summer (2009)
dir. Marc Webb ...

#September11 #NeverForget #TwinTowers
#BookReview

This is one of the defining books of a generation; perhaps the best way to demonstrate to todays young people the reality of the atrocious events of 9/11, best described through the eyes of the survivors, government officials and emergency aid workers who lived through the day and its immediate aftermath.

I can't remember another reading experience like this. Whatever your own experience of 9/11 was - and for all of us who lived through it, we remember where we were, what we were doing - Garrett takes that lived experience and makes the day come alive through the stories of hundreds of Americans, and makes you feel like your memories blend with those of the people whose stories are told on these pages.

The author does an stellar job of creating a forum for survivors to tell their stories in such vivid detail. The book is large, although divided into several chapters from the morning of 9/11 onwards. Extracts from phone calls made from the towers and the hijacked aircrafts are included and make up some of the most poignant parts of the book. Chapters following eyewitness accounts of the victims who were forced to jump from the towers by the intense heat and fire were absolutely heartbreaking, as was the descriptions of the heroic rescue efforts of the emergency services who lost so many of their colleagues.

Although I have watched numerous documentaries on 9/11, nothing compares to reading the voices of the survivors first hand. This is a difficult book to read, but a very important one nonetheless. We all owe a debt of gratitude to the author for the priceless gift he has given us and future generations. For the millions of people born after 9/11 this book will ensure the event doesn’t one day become simply a dry statistic in a history book. ...

If the path you’re on⁣ doesn’t lead to you⁣
expanding your heart,⁣
soul, and mind, ⁣it’s not the right path.
—@lalahdelia ⁣ ...