stouthearted

People often give me journals as gifts.  I have loads of them on a bookshelf.  Some are chock full of my handwritten thoughts & musings along with magazine clippings, postcards, scraps of scribbled on paper, notes from Tim, poems I enjoy, and old letters.  A few are mostly empty pages, only the first third or so filled with my contemplations.  Others are wholly blank slates, even those I've owned for years and toted from place to place, home to home.  I suppose they are patiently waiting to be made useful.  

Sometimes I think about burning the oldest ones or the journals seemingly full of more bad than good.  I especially consider ridding myself of those that aren't truly reflective or useful in documenting my past.  But I don't.  So they're all still there.  Collecting dust, occasionally getting picked off the shelf to be looked through.  That's where I found this:

One cannot dwell in darkness and be mired in self-doubt while waiting to blossom.  It's not possible.  One has to step into the light and be seen.  Be vulnerable.  Be truthful.  Be brave.  Be honest.  And, above all, embrace the beauty & individualism that makes one unique.

Now I know this isn't a one-off thread or a particularly profound set of words strung together, but it kind of smacked me in the chest when I found it.  My guess is that I needed those words exactly right now.  While it might seem small to some, sharing them feels a little brave and a little vulnerable.  But it's a new year, and I've no interest in making 2017 a time where I shrink from being either of those things.