I just purchased a pdf of the book A Gentle Reminder by Bianca Sparacino and if it wasn't a violation of authorship rights I would totally love to copy-paste its full content here. Simply because it's the most tender and calming book I've ever read.
Sometimes you are lucky enough to cross paths with someone who is gentle with you, gentle with your soul. Someone who can (for a brief yet significant moment) quieten your worried mind. Who makes you feel heard, understood, accepted. This book somehow has the same power. The power to bring you a sense of inner peace with who you are and where you are at this very moment. It doesn't just make you accept it, it makes you embrace it.
So I obviously can't copy-paste the whole book here. But I wanted to insert at least a small part. So I scrolled to a random page and started reading and then I knew that if I wanted to share that part, I would have to copy-paste the following two pages as well and it felt like too much... so I chose another part and the same thing happened. Finally, I chose few paragraphs. But honestly, if they resonate with you, just buy the whole book because there are so many more beautiful notes you would miss otherwise.
Please, whatever you do — just leap towards tenderness. Leap towards connection. We are all afraid to say too much, to feel too deeply, to let people know what they mean to us. But caring is not synonymous with crazy. Expressing to someone how special they are to you will make you vulnerable. There is no denying that. However, that is nothing to be ashamed of. There is something breathtakingly beautiful in the moments of smaller magic that occur when you strip down and are honest with those who are important to you, when you choose to slam your heart into those who ignite something within it, when you express. So, express. Express, express, express. Open yourself up, do not harden yourself to the world, and be bold in who, and how, you love. There is courage in that.
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Above all else, I hope you give yourself permission to believe that you are not defined by a person’s inability to love you or by a person’s inability to choose you. I hope you do not abandon who you are even though they did. I hope you do not neglect or question yourself even though they did. I hope you remember to love yourself better than they could, I hope you learn how to give yourself that kind of strength. I hope you remind yourself that you are rare, that you hold value here. I hope seasons of being misunderstood, of being unappreciated, do not cause you to see yourself through the eyes of those who could not celebrate you or support you. Above all else, I hope you connect with just how worthy you have always been. I hope you give yourself permission to be all that you are.
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I think it’s beautiful — the way you show up in this world, unguarded and willing to try again, despite all of the ways it has tried to defeat you. I think it’s beautiful, the way you tuck courage into yourself each morning, the way you refuse to be anything but hopeful in this world, despite the inner battles you fight, despite the struggles you have experienced for so long. I think it’s beautiful — the way you twist your losses into lessons, the way you fight even when you feel weak. You are not weak. There is a resounding level of courage to be found in being the person who continues to heal, even when it hurts. There is a resounding level of bravery to be found in being the person who believes in the light, even when they cannot see it.