🖊 WRITE 🖊
Some days, I feel more like singing; other days, dancing, cooking, drawing, or sometimes writing. Today is one of those days when I feel like writing.
The narrative I’ve been developing since my birth is the oldest story I’m connected to. Along the way, I’ve developed a black-and-white lens alongside my rose-colored perspective on my story.
The black-and-white view helped me navigate certain situations. Fairy tales often have a hero and a villain, for instance. Now that I’ve realized I also have a shadow side, I understand there is more nuance. I’ve come to appreciate stories other than my own because of these nuances.
Without my own story, with all its “heroes” and “villains,” healthy or unhealthy, shadow or light, loneliness would deeply affect me. Without the stories of others, the most nuanced and healthy parts of me would be overcome by sadness.
This is why I love stories so much. I love people who can tell a story, but I also love reading stories, hearing them in songs, or experiencing them through video, like in a series or movie.
Stories make me feel connected; they give me a sense of fulfillment. That’s why I share my story—maybe, just maybe, it helps someone else feel less lonely. After all, my intention is to connect.
I can appreciate fairy tales from time to time, but stories with nuance—WOW—those really move me.
That’s why I sometimes look back at the first story I know, as it’s the one I’ve known the longest. Stories can give me a sense of home. While I’m creating a home, a safe and happy place for myself in this body, in this location on Earth, I still enjoy revisiting that first feeling of home.
Now that I’ve begun to accept the shadow side of humanity a bit more, the story is no longer too intense for my safe space. Instead, it has become a bittersweet story filled with nuance.
In this narrative, I’m allowed to see all sides of all characters, still love their most charming aspects, and grieve when necessary. This nuanced view of my story, along with forgiveness, has helped me see the beauty of life again.
For me, beauty lies in nuances: the pink flower that is just pink enough and smells just sweet enough, or the sunbeam that is just warm enough, neither too bright nor too dim.
The gift of forgiving others, I believe, leads to a deeper appreciation of life’s nuances and beauty. The gift of embracing my own story, and the stories of others, creates a deeper connection.
