The Mermaid's Voice Returns in This One

do you ever find yourself nostalgic for the life you never got to have?

becoming your own savior sometimes means knowing when you need to ask for help. - therapy session no. 1

you are sad now. you are not sad forever.

& so she did what any rational woman would do— ever so calmly, she reached out & she tore the stars apart.

When our villains win, do not fret, just rewrite the story. - mother knows best II

do you ever find yourself nostalgic for the person you never got to be?

be stronger than the villains. be every storybook heroine come to life.

the only thing i can do is learn to live with the idea that i will never be cured. i will always be in the process of healing. - making the most of it.

Cages are still cages, even when they're designed to look just like castles. - illusionist

be victorious in everything you do. disturb the gods, if that's what it takes. & maybe especially then.

you are so much more than the rippling fallacies your reflection whispers to you. those demons that lurk beneath the surface do not know you even though they pretend to. and someday, though it feels impossible, you will see yourself as i do. when time has finally finished healing your scars, your siren call will scream 'I AM GOOD ENOUGH!' and even your bewitching smile will shine through. but until that day, the day you are okay, just keep singing yourself to sleep. And eventually, your monsters will stop haunting you. - trust me.

i watched you watching me wane. now, you have no fucking choice other than to watch me - become full.

you are sad now. you are not sad forever. there are no paved roads to healing. you must build one brick by brick. there will be backtracks before breakthroughs but- you must collapse into yourself before rebuilding. you must unearth every wound before learning the power of salt. you will build that yellow brick road- in your own time and on your own terms. - the grit of healing.

at this point, staying with you is nothing more than muscle memory.

Most stories don't have a clear, defined message. they aren't supposed to. we must take the good with the bad with the grey & decide what we want to do with it all. - i'm still alive & therefore so is hope.

The further along i come, the more i'm beginning to realize that maybe- just maybe- there is such a thing as fate. as destiny. if after everything, i'm still breathing, then there must be a reason. even if i haven't seen it yet.

i don't write what i write to hurt you. - i write what i write to heal me.

Maybe i'm not the book you dog-ear & keep with you always," te girl murmured, pulling her sleeves over her hands. "maybe i'm the book you forget to bookmark & leave on the train." - shrinking violets like us.

sometimes you heal up & sometimes you stick out at strange angles forever..... like an elaborate self- portrait drawn by a six year old & so what? you are learning what it means to be the only one of yourself

star light, star bright, first star i see tonight; i wish i may, i wish i might flee my skin for but a night. - bibliophile.

the night may fall, but i will always remain. - i'm my own sunset. the dawn may break, but i will always reign. - i'm my own sunrise.

Today, i love the way i look in my sundress & it's not because someone else convinced me to.

i tucked my story into the folds of silence in order to put other people at ease. - no more.

when our villains win, do not fret. just rewrite the story.

the first person who touched me was not my first. - i’m deciding my firsts from now on.

When you've walked on daggers your entire life, you don't even know how to trust the softness of sand between your toes. -but you need to try anyway.

the reason they tell us we cannot have it all is because they fear we will become even more dangerous than we are, & we are already such forces to be reckoned with. - open up the wardrobe & step inside.

yesterday, they were angry scarlet gashes. today, they are quietly fading hairlines. tomorrow, tomorrow- - you'll just have to wait around & see.

i'm no longer searching for reasons or explanations for the past. i'm only searching for breadcrumbs leading to more breadcrumbs that will, with any luck, eventually lead me down the path i've been looking for this whole time. - homeward.