Life is meant to be lived. You have to chase the things that ignite you. You have to do the things that bring you joy.
You have to surround yourself with the people who bring you back home to yourself, with the people who respect you and embrace you in ways that make you feel like you are worthy and accepted and loved.
You have to do the work to heal yourself, even when it hurts — especially when it hurts, so that you do not continue to approach your life within the boundary of what is heavy within you.
You have to put yourself out there, and you cannot worry about what other people think, you cannot rob yourself of experience or happiness or inspiration because you are scared of how you will be perceived.
You have to be unapologetic in the way that you exist here. You have to believe that your ideas, and your hope, and your being, deserve to take up space.
You have to believe that you have purpose.
Bianca Sparacino From A Gentle Reminder
“Aging is not for the weak. One day you wake up and realize that your youth is gone, but along with it, so go insecurity, haste, and the need to please… You learn to walk more slowly, but with greater certainty. You say goodbye without fear, and you cherish those who stay. Aging means letting go, it means accepting, it means discovering that beauty was never in our skin… but in the story we carry inside us.”
– Meryl Streep
This is a beautiful reflection on aging that touches on several profound truths. The passage eloquently captures how aging brings not just physical changes, but also emotional and spiritual growth – a kind of wisdom that comes from life experience.
I particularly appreciate how it reframes aging as a process of gaining rather than just losing. While youth fades, the text suggests we gain valuable traits like:
The metaphor of walking “more slowly, but with greater certainty” is especially powerful – it captures how aging can bring a kind of confident deliberateness that youth often lacks.
Would you say this resonates with your own experiences or observations about aging? I am curious know how this perspective compares with common cultural narratives about getting older.
– One Tusk
Suggested by Sathyam
ONE TUSK 