#there is always hope

[havens-positivity-corner]

you are not defined by your worst moments, you don’t have to keep carrying that guilt around ❤️‍🩹

[hebrewbyinbal]

In times like these, when the world feels heavy and the heart cannot carry the pain, it's easy to lose sight of something crucial - hope.

But let me assure you, no matter how dark the skies or how strong the winds, there is always hope.

This simple yet powerful truth can be a guiding star, a light that breaks through the darkest night, reminding us to keep going, to keep believing.

Though we face challenges that seem insurmountable, it's the flicker of hope that keeps us moving, that lets us envision a brighter, safer tomorrow for ourselves and for generations to come.

Let's not forget, history has shown us that even in the bleakest of times, the human spirit is indomitable, rising against all odds.

So, as we navigate through these turbulent times, let's cling to this: there is always hope.

And in the presence of hope, miracles can happen.

[crucified-bloodhound]

being single for almost two years (not counting the gf i had in december, ill address that later) has made me learn a lot about love.

trigger warning - mentions of sa, eating disorders, and self harm

i've learned about how i want to love. how i want to be loved. what compromise is. what communication is. i have learned from the friends that i have made into family that love is not always easy. no one is perfect and no love is perfect.

i've learned what i'm not willing to take from someone. when i asked my ex to be my girlfriend, after months of talking, i drove 45 minutes for our first in person date. she commented on my body and what i ate at dinner. she made me do things when i clearly showed and said outright i didnt want to. we cuddled in my car in the dark parking lot of her hometown shopping mall and, just a few days after i told her i wasnt ready to do more than hug and lay together and hold hands, she pressed into me and told me she had a boner. just a few days after i confided in her about my recent lapse into my old habits of body dysmorphia and hitting the gym too hard and resting too little, she squeezed the fat on my hip and stomach. i learned that i don't have to say yes. that i dont have to pressure myself in my own head to lay and wait when i want to begin the long drive home north on 76 and through the lonely streets of my city square. i learned i dont have to be quiet and wait until i am calm to share my discomfort. i learned how to stand up for myself. i learned how to see the road through the tears.

i learned what is not worth doing because of pain. i learned i dont have to hurt on the outside to validate what's on the inside, to make it real. i learned how to talk to strangers kind enough to ask, with genuine fucking care, "are you okay?" and "what's going on?" i learned that no matter how many scars i have, no matter how stupid and small i feel watching them fade, that my pain has always been real. my pain is more than "big feelings" and "crying it out." i learned that there are people who care about that pain enough to let me sit in it, still and unharmed, for as long as i need, no matter how much they wish they could just make it go away. i learned that high beams dont work in the rain.

i learned that there are good people. not people that are inherently good or above me - people that want to be good. want to do good things for people who ask or need or neither. i learned that sometimes, people just care. there's no transaction in that. no expectation, no "owing you one," no long road of penance for being treated as both fragile and strong, both big and small. i learned the joy in letting someone pass me on the four lane busy streets and seeing the good old midwest wave through the back windshield.

i learned how to give. i learned that everyone else is in pain too. i learned that it is vulnerable in the most exalting of ways to offer up your soul for the family you choose. i learnes how to comfort my friends at college missing their parents two states over or halfway across the country, even if i dread coming home to mine each day. i learned to acknowledge how hard it must be to be someone else. i learned to opem my arms when a friend comes running. i learned how to warn my passenger before we hit a bump, brake fast, gas it hard, or turn sharp.

i learned that even on the shitty days, loving is the best thing for my soul. i learned that no matter how much ive bled or been hit or touched when i didnt ask for it or stared in the mirror for too long, that my skin is worth caressing, my body worth protecting, that i'm still a virgin if i say i am, that the reflection will always be worth smiling at. i learned of mirth. of pain. of how to feel good. that my body is still mine no matter how many people tried to take a piece of it with them and no matter how young and stupid i was when i let them. i learned that love is so much more than a peck on the cheek in the morning or water after sex. i learned when to pull over to breathe.

[abe322]

There is always Hope

[dividedindiversity]

Hey Dutch people, so far fewer people have voted than at the same time in 2017!

You know what that means: your vote is more impactful than it was that time if you cast it! That was an election I was very worried about, which is why I got my citizenship. Unfortunately I still couldn't vote because I got it like a week before the election and they couldn't get a 'Kiespas' to me in time. Ah well. If you care about what's going on in the country or the world at all, if you have been signing petitions and donating money and attending protests and yelling at politicians, please take this opportunity to do something. GO OUT AND VOTE FOR A NON-FASCIST OR MIGHT I EVEN SUGGEST FOR SOMEONE WITH HALFWAY DECENT POLICIES

[regulusandpandora]

So, I've known I was a Regulus kinnie for a while now, but lately, I've been really relating to James and Sirius and I think I've finally figured out why.

Sirius is my anger and my guilt and my pain and my trauma. He didn't spend years trying to please his parents the way Regulus did, but he still is always comparing himself to others, still feels he will never be enough. He was me before the bitterness went numb, when I hated everyone and everything and wished that everyone would see just how much I was struggling under my smile, when I wanted to hurt everyone else because maybe then they'd understand how I feel. He is me when I start to act like my mother and it makes me feel a bit sick, because, does this mean I'm becoming her? I don't want to be her. He is me when my anger gets ahead of me and leaves me staring at its destruction. He is me when I look at my siblings and see strangers and realize they've stopped asking me to play with them. He is me joking about my problems but never really acknowledging them because then that makes them real, that makes me broken. He is also me when I over share my problems to people in hopes maybe someone will care.

James is my inner child, long dead, but still a ghost in my actions and my heart, haunting me, as everything does. He is me when I smile at a stranger without even thinking about it. He is me when I laugh like there is no tomorrow. He is me when I ask people how the are. He is me when I doubt if I have any right to be upset or angry or sad. James is me when I never feel good enough for myself. he is me when, despite smiling, I feel like something in me is dead and I'm don't know why. He is the part of me that wants to grow up and be kind. He is the part of me that is endlessly loyal and will always choose his family, blood relation or not. He isn't as much of my personality as he probably once was, but he is there, in the cracks, a ghost, or rather, rays of sunshine, gifts from my childhood reminding me I was once a child who ran barefoot and had a smile like sunshine.

And Regulus, Regulus is the rest of me. Most of what I am now. He i me when I am numb to all emotion because I've spent so many years repressing them to please my parents. He is me chasing after rushes of serotonin and dopamine because i just want to feel. He is me being self destructive because even pain is something other than numbness. He is the part of me that knows I was never truly wanted, never the first choice, the mistake. He is my abandonment issues. He is me, walking away because if I walk away first, they can't abandon me. He is me, walking away, because I've gone numb and can no longer care about a person I once loved. He is the part of me that is screaming for me to shut up when I am oversharing, or am talking impulsively. He is my fear and he is my cruelty and he is the "monster" that life has formed me into.

But Sirius is there saying "you deserve better," "you don't have to be who they say you have to be." And James is there saying "it's okay to be kind," "you can let yourself be the sun again."

But I'm not a sun, not anymore. I am a star, yes, but I am no sun. I am a star, one people look at and find lovely, but who they never truly see. They see what they want and when I don't fit with what the want they criticize me for it.

And so Regulus is there in the end saying, "It is never to late to be brave. It is never too late to finally be yourself."

And so, maybe, there is hope.

[bardass]

i don’t know who needs to hear this (even if it’s just myself, i think that’s okay), but i want to congratulate you for making it to this year. i mourn those who did not, and will hold them in my heart for all the years to come. but look at you. i am so proud of you. there have been many times when i truly did not think i would make it this far. hell, i didn’t think i was going to make it through high school but here i am: having graduated college this past year (with honors!). there have been times when i have been low and i mean rock bottom. there have been times when i have shut myself in with the darkness and dug myself deeper to see just how bad it could get. and then there have been times not long after when i have let in the sunshine again and climbed higher than i ever thought possible. after every darkness came the dawn. and after all of that—all the pain and the mistakes and the loss, i remain. i am happier and stronger than i have ever been. because, despite the persistent and nagging despair, it does get better.

i’m not saying it’s easy. because goddess knows i worked damn hard to get here and everyday i work hard to keep moving forward, and everyday i’m still learning more. life is an rpg where the difficulty keeps raising but i level up with it. each year i live through has a tendency to seem insane and feel like the end of the world. and yet, here we are: still hurdling around the sun a billion miles a second. still kicking. still breathing. still trying to learn from and fix our mistakes. because despite the wars and the diseases and the many powers that be that threaten our very livelihoods, we persevere. we don’t give up. because even if it seems far off, even if it seems impossible, even if it’s a fat chance in hell, we hold out for that tiny sliver of hope that it could get better.

i think now more than ever we need to remember how bright that sliver of hope actually is and can be when we breathe life into it. i am a strong believer that every one of us has the power to save a life, even and especially if it’s just our own. when you grow up in darkness you learn to make your own light. to become your own beacon—a source of light and hope and warmth. and by consequence you become a beacon and inspiration for others. by kindling the light within you, you spark a chain reaction that can grow and spread until one day it’s big enough to warm a whole community, or bigger.

what i’m trying to say is, if you are in the darkness now, or find yourself there again, remember this:

It will pass. The sun will rise. And if the sun doesn’t come, fuse your own damn star. Be the radiance you need from the world. Don’t just wait around for change, plant the seeds and watch them grow. You have the power. You can get through this. You are capable of far more than you can possibly imagine. I believe in you. Even if you don’t, even if no one else will, I believe. Because you are enough.

[chocolateygarlic]

Still, I hold onto my hopes. No matter what.

[myremnantarmy]

𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘠𝘰𝘶...

[tostawafle]

hope in even the darkest moments

be more like her! never lose hope!

even though she look pretty uhhh... hopeless... (ahem)

dont give up!, you're doing great!

[sir-meows-a-lot]

idk what y’all are talking about “gen alpha is so terrible”

these kids are genuinely so sweet, one just told me about her ballerina toys and called my cat “literally soooo fluffy”

there is hope. I am hopeful. My house has practically been a daycare for the last two hours and I haven’t heard shit about skibity toilet.

[dancingastralwitch]

Guess who just finished Pandora Hearts

[hebrewbyinbal]

Thank you to all of you from around the world who have shown so much love and support for my Israel. Using my beautiful Hebrew to spread Hope for us all.

[freydis-shieldmaiden-of-rohan]

[mockingbirdjune]

Like seasons, life will change. It won’t always look the same. I won’t always look the same.

Leaves will fall and shaking branches will thaw and erupt with blooms, then sunkissed fruit. The endless in-between will become a distant memory.

From an army crawl to a stagger—to a victory lap—one day, mark my words, I will fly from here.

[quill-pen]

No, you don't understand, as someone who has never been in a relationship and had only marginal romance in their life, I don't daydream about sexual stuff (well... sometimes... during a certain time of the month)--I daydream about the sweet, soft, wholesome stuff.

I daydream about gentle kisses on my hands, my face, my head, my lips. I daydream about forehead touches with my arms wrapped around his neck and his around my waist. I daydream about handholding--I've literally never held someone's hand in a semi-romantic way, can you believe that?! I daydream about my face being held between rough but gentle hands. I daydream about a callused thumb tracing my jawline, maybe my head being tipped back with a finger holding my chin so I can meet his gaze. I daydream of eye contact so full of trust and love that it makes me feel safe but also shy and flustered at the same time. I daydream of hugs--any kind of hugs: full-on hugs, side hugs, hugs from behind with his arms lingering around my waist. I daydream of protective arms around my shoulders, holding me close to his side, letting everyone know we're together. I daydream of walking arm in arm--the very thought of him offering his arm for me to loop my hand through like we're old timey courtshipping is enough to make me swoon. I daydream of curling up together and falling asleep wrapped up in each other. I daydream of long cuddle sessions. I daydream of long talks and comfortable silences. I daydream of putting a mattress in the back of a truck and driving out into an open field somewhere and spending all night wrapped in blankets and staring at the stars together (although the mosquitoes might suck the romance out of that one😬). I daydream about acting stupid and silly together and dancing badly around the house. I daydream about watching movies and shows together. I daydream about having him look at me like I'm the most beautiful thing he's ever seen (not even possibly true, but regardless). I daydream about being chosen out of everyone else that could have been and being the best of everything he could ever want. I daydream about being monsooned in so much love I could drown and being able to monsoon him right back. I daydream about being his best friend and the love of his life. I daydream about crying the first time he says "I love you" because I never, ever imagined it could ever happen or that I could ever feel the same. I daydream of being so happy about it all I don't know what to do with myself.

I just daydream of romance and love--real, true, God-given love--and finding it with the person God has planned for me. Most of the time I doubt it will ever happen, because it's hard to believe God would ever saddle anyone with me. But I don't think I would have these desires if it wasn't meant to be. I don't know. I guess I'm just a pathetic, hopeless romantic at heart.