Sometimes, it’s all we can do to hold the pieces of ourselves together…

And keep on going, and sometimes we need to do this— to be strong and show ourselves that we can.

At other times, I think the greatest gift we can give ourselves is to let go: to let the pieces explode and scatter, to sit in the eye of our own storm, in the centre of the orb created by our atoms flying outwards, leaving us all at sea and not knowing which way is up or down—and there, to simply breathe.

To breathe deeply—in the moments of not knowing, or fighting, or pushing, just to breathe and recognise that in all these pieces of me—the broken pieces, the polished pieces, the smashed up, bashed up pieces and the prized pieces—my soul shines and is precious. That even when all I can do is sit amongst the shards until I can, once again, build them into something new and wonderful. Even then, I am valid and whole. Even in pieces, I am enough.