Differently

Time and time again
You come to know
You love differently
You value people in such a vastly different way

Over and over
You think someone has really seen you
Until the day their demons come to call
And instead of facing them
They paint horns on you
And become someone you don't know
They condemn you for that which they can't face within themselves
Meanwhile, you only see their beauty
And your heart breaks again

Heartbreak sucks
Excruciating, every time

Until finally
Fucking finally
You realize it has to start with YOU
So you do the work
And face all the things
You let a lot of things go

You come to love yourself
Reveling in the truest love affair there is
The one between YOU and THE UNIVERSE

That helps you
You can love them where they are
Set your boundaries
And walk your path
No need to seek wholeness or fulfillment from without
No longer wondering where home is
This is peace

Never Play Small

Never play small
People get used to it
We sit, thirsty
Below a dripping faucet
While someone holds the handle tight
We delight in each little drip coming our way
So happy to get each one
But why?
Why do we do that?
We should be holding our own faucet handle
Drinking our fill as we see fit
We play paduwan
Hiding what we have and what we know
Why do we do that?
You see, the thing about playing small
Is that you can never get small enough
There are those who get used to it
They like taking over the space you aren't using
The energy of your "getting little"
It feels good to them
The worst part is this
You can never get small enough
You'll soon find they will crucify you
For taking up any space at all
And you will be asking yourself
What you've done wrong
How can you "fix it?"
The truth is
You've done nothing wrong
It's not you
So here's the thing
You damned well take up
ALL OF THE SPACE
That you were designed to by this Universe
To occupy
Be BIG
If you want to
BE LOUD
Never, ever water yourself down
For the approval of another
If your existence bothers them
Just by you being you
Then they aren't meant to be in your life
You are unique, beautiful and NEEDED
The full, unwatered down
Full strength
Quirky, fabulous you
You
With your spaz moments
Your contradictions
And all of the things you think
You need to hide
You don't need to hide a thing
BE YOU
Those who don't like it
Can find a different place in this big, beautiful world
One that isn't next to you