To choosing your battles…

With jab of a dagger, your army is summoned to your defenses. The elite know that every fight can lead to batlle and not every blow deserves a consequence. Peace, love, and war intertwine in the name of personal justice, but winning can also sound like a staggering silence and glow with the glare of profound composure.

To learning yourself…

I love clean refrigerators and overpriced handbags. I hate unmade beds and the American portion sizes. I love Saturday morning workouts and hilly drives at sunset. I hate people who don’t appreciate the small things and the process of making an online return. I love checking off my to-do list and honey dijon mustard. I hate when people don’t wave when cutting in on the interstate, and how sand sticks to everything for years. I love dog lovers and family group chats. I hate long grocery store lines and dying plants. I love the feeling of understanding someone whose different from me , and hate the feeling of being unrightfully misunderstood. The fun of being yourself is knowing yourself. Your unique quirks make you irresistibly relatable to all the really weird people just like you.

To surrounding yourself with good people…

You only have so much space on your heart-drive.

To the people who don’t have a home…

Somewhere, someone is looking down worried and sad, watching their brother, cousin, old classmate, grandfather- make his bed on the streets during this sunset. As his body molds into the cement ledge underneath the bridge, i question whether I should stop and cover his slightly showing toes. I know somewhere, someone is leaving him notes of hope, warmth and love and pulling a cap over his ears as he slowly drifts to sleep. I pray he sees these messages in the sky; his multiple angels; his forever second set of eyes. He isn’t alone. it’s just cloudy tonight.

To all the little things going wrong at once….

A glass half spilled is still annoying to clean up . Learning to laugh until you cry, and cry until you find the hard knocks in life a little more humorous, shows up on about season 3 of the wisdom podcast. Latch on to the little blessings and let them rain on your parade. Find survival in these overlooked gifts of revival, because you woke up today, and a dose of appreciation never hurt nobody.

To the girl who didn’t need another bad guy…

She talked in love, but just enough to hide from the pain she once knew. One day she was tugged from the school bus and told to walk because the city had a skyline and views he begged her to see. The hold of his hand and the strength in his pull gave her an urged sense of exploration and fresh feeling of trust- until a sudden fork in the road left her to pave alone. As quickly as it had opened, the pathway was closed out of fear that this trail was permanently unsafe. Waking up the next day, she walked to the bus stop and peered down the street. The world stood still as she determined her next move. You’ve seen few too many skylines to stop now.

To the mentality before the first day of work…

It’s like the feeling of Christmas morning, but with nerves. Your clothes all set; your mind all organized. You know what you think you know, and envision the slightest of comforting nuances from previous positions. trying to not over-analyze while pursuing to tactically overachieve; It’s the happy medium that will help you escape the day unscathed from battle stares. Food, water and anything that normally seems natural becomes completely irrelevant on this day. You have one sole purpose of being as robotic and simple as possible. You got the job. now it’s time to make a second first impression.

To your forever favorite song…

 THANK YOU FOR always letting me be in your band. I STRIVE TO GIVE My LIFE THIS TYPE OF BEAT, BUT ONLY YOU CAN TRULY HIT THOSE NOTES.

Rock on.

To realizing you’re an adult…

Twisting and turning past new and old doors, passing ones of lessons learned, and opening others when our gut says ‘go’.  As years and minds move forward, the doors become easier to open, but bear more weight. We find our stairwell getting quieter and our resources becoming more independently established. I see more of the things I told my parents to ignore and why a clean house is priceless. I see more of what I will become and how budget keeps me thin. i see my mind getting its first whiff of homemade wisdom, and how credibility is completely earned in the trial and errors of life. These steps have great meaning to the person i’m meant to be. The rest of my life, part 2; It’s time to climb.

To enjoying the journey and the people you meet along the way…

Everyday is my next surprise party. I kind of want to cry yet I’m always laughing to myself At how much I really didn’t know. What I used to consider a stranger is now my closest acquaintance, and my clever prompts are the only way I remember peoples names in mid conversation. i see the guests being here today as a pay it forward momento. They tribute this to remembering the feeling of following their dreams in a foreign land and how powerful the smallest acts become as times get tough and maps only get you so comfortable. I awkwardly move about acting like i know how things go around here. An abundance of different license plates line the driveway and each duet on the kareoke machine brings the whole party closer as the risk of one’s pride is respected in any state. Coming up on the last note, everyone joins in. we take one big breath and belt the final chorus. a city like this never forgets to embrace the song that’s currently being played.