To ‘pretend’ is to say that I’m willing to waste the precious energy that it takes to pretend, and I’m unwilling to cultivate the bravery that it takes to be real. And I am at a complete loss to pretend that either of these aren’t true.

I have finally come to realize that it’s being forced to be honest with myself that’s made my pain painful all along.

One of the most perplexing contradictions is ‘who we are’ verses ‘who we’ve become’. And if we don’t reclaim the former, there will be very little that is authentic about the latter.