Chasing the Light
I spend a lot of time breaking down the self criticism my students have absorbed throughout life.
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I hear, “too old”, “if I had a body like”, “I’d embarrass my husband/kids/family”, “in another lifetime”…
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Listen to me. Existence is a chaotic miracle, and the only fundamental point to life beyond “Do no harm” is that we create our own meaning. Societal norms come and go. Empires rise and fall. Humans have existed on earth for barely a blip in the geological timescale of earths existence.
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None of the criticisms of your body, your perceived mistakes, your parenting, your choice not to, your career, passions and all the decisions you’ve made that didn’t fit what they scream at you from magazine covers, Murdoch papers or across Facebook mean shit at this distance.
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You are a GOD DAMN MIRACLE. Your existence is sheer luck.
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If there’s anything we’ve learnt from this pandemic, it’s that everything can change in a brief moment.
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Follow the light in the forest. Go on your beautiful adventure of a life. You’re going to make big, messy mistakes and even bigger, joyful achievements. Life is not “good vibes only”, it doesn’t play out in a neat story arc, the credits don’t roll when you achieve that one big moment and there is no other lifetime. Not that you’ll remember anyway. You are perfectly imperfect. Just like the rest of us.
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So do whatever it is you think you’re “too” or “not enough” for and stick a middle finger up at anyone who says you can’t.
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I love you, now go get it.
