It took a long time for her to understand. It took a long time to let go of her ideas and rules and plans so the truth could finally settle in. This is life. This is it. It’s not somewhere up ahead, a goal to press towards with degrees or achievements or measurable conquests. It’s […]
Author: Cristen Rodgers
Continue On
Continue on. And just when you start to turn the page on the wounds of the past, just when you start to feel the budding excitement of something you’ve never known, a conditioned voice in your head will tell you to look back. Continue on. It will whisper, “But what about him? What about her? […]
Lost
Sometimes I just have to disappear. I don’t mean ethereally, like in meditation or by consuming art, though I need that regularly too. I mean physically disappear. Sometimes I need to lose myself so completely that I’m lost to others as well. I have to shut off my phone, forget the world, and lose my […]
One with the Night
I tend to be most alive in the day. I’m in love with the greens of the trees and I’m energized by the sun. I crave the sound of singing birds and the feel of sun-warmed skin. But when times get hard – when I’m tired, overburdened, or worn down – that’s when I become […]
The Misfits
I’ve never really fit into any group that well. Maybe that’s part unhealed trauma, part innate oddness, and part superpower. My seat has always been with the misfits. That’s where I belong. With the loners and the rebels, the broken and awkward and divergent ones. With the people who couldn’t fit the box if they […]
Destinations
You see, it was never about arriving. It has always been about the journey. It’s about how many times you fall into a hole and you dig your way back out of it. Wiser. Stronger. Lighter. Brighter. You’re never going to reach some final destination, because it’s always been right here. Here, in the midst […]
Speak
I won’t tell you to be positive.I won’t make you feel like you need to hide.I won’t change the subjectwhen you start to share what’s hidden inside.I won’t try to fix youlike you’re some sort of broken machine.I will look without agendaat the truths you wish to be seen.I’ve been there myself;I’ve felt that pain […]
Hello Darkness
grounds are shakingwalls are caving in;exposing each fear,every anger and sin.every step I’ve taken,all I have beenchaos is brewing;the ice is too thin.alone in my headwords start to shake.releasing the pain,I let the ice break.cold water pullingit’s so hard to breathe.wounds I was hidingthey finally bleed.I’ve been here before.I know where to go.so journey I […]
I See You
No longer do I need to go somewhere remote and alone to find you. I find you here. Within me. Surrounding me. The breath before my breath. The sight before my sight. I find you in the innermost parts of me, waiting patiently for my mind to see. No longer must I gaze upon a […]
Break It
If you don’t like the system then break it. Stop living by its rules. Stop thinking in those terms. Stop believing the lies. Stop feeding the fears. You can be a quiet revolution. Just let go of the anxieties they taught you. Change your expectations. That alone is the quiet force of a thousand armies. […]
Home
She came home, with starlight still clinging to her eyelashes and dew drenched skin where there was hardened armor before. She returned with a lightness, stripped of pretense; and she had no worries to hang at the door. She did not stop to check her reflection or straighten the mess of her hair, but she […]
Autumn in the South
In the south, autumn isn’t seen so much as felt. Here, it rides in on the wings of birds looking for their seasonal homes. The leaves don’t really change, but the wind does, and it speaks of letting go, freedom, and transformation. We don’t add layers of sweaters and boots, we shed them. Our season […]