❝ Wall of Words ❞

I don't really know what it is. But recently I've been very inspired and I love it. I honestly think it's because of the company I've had recently. The company that you keep is such an important aspect in life. I've learned the both the easy way and the hard way. 
Anyway, I am the type of person who lives off of quotes and poetry. I have always been the kind of person who has quotes on everything and who finds so much inspiration, art, and life within such beautiful words.  That's what this post is about, the quotes that inspire me everyday and every time I read them. 
I have a wall of Polaroid quotes hanging in my room, because I believe it's important to always feel inspired or at least most days. So whenever I'm feeling down, or need inspiration or just for whenever, I look at these quotes and here's why: 
{1} "If we were meant to stay in one place, we would have roots instead of feet"
I'm a Sagittarius, clearly and yes... I believe in the stars and horoscopes and all that crap. Sagittarians are known to be travelers. I may not be much of a wanderer or traveler right now, but I kind of am in my own special way. I get out as much as I can, I see new places as much as I can. But it is kind of hard right now for my own reasons but that's okay. This quote keeps me hoping for the days in the future when I know.... for sure... that I will travel. Across the states, to a different part of Virginia, to a different country... wherever!  We were all meant to be a little bit nomadic. Some of us (a.k.a me) were meant to be just a little bit more nomadic.  Another quote that fits hand in hand with this one is:  {2} "I'm in love with cities I've never been to and people I've never met" I've been here for many... many years and places get rather small after awhile. I love it here, I love my family and I love my friends but the Sag in me is telling me that it's time to go out and meet new people in new cities and places. Everything is so overdue here.  I'm not saying I'll be gone forever, I'll be back. I have so much history here.  Virginia is home. But there's a whole world out there for me. 
{3} "We all stand by, as the mirrors lie, to all those pretty faces"  - Atticus
In all honesty, this world is a beautiful place, but it's also so manipulative and dark. Everybody wants to be and look the best. The best of all. When really, the best varies. Somebody's best can be different than my best. But that's life, nobody is the same. And god, I wouldn't want to be the same as everyone else.  But TV portrays such fake images of what should be beautiful, handsome, smart, ugly... when really it should portray the beauty in diversity. People are out here hating themselves for not looking like the models on TV... but Honey, you're beautiful the way you are. I may sound so cliche right now, but obviously this same old message isn't getting into people's heads.  Diversity is beautiful. Conformity isn't. And neither is the "status quo".  As I like to say, don't stick to the status quo, this world needs some originality. 
{4} "To be human is to be broken and broken is its own kind of beautiful"  -R. M. Drake
I have been very vulnerable these past few years and a part of me hates it; feeling so broken yet so whole at the same time. It's such a contradiction. It gets tiring after a while, going back and forth between being completely shattered and broken and then feeling whole again. It gets tiring after a while, building yourself back up the way you want, and then completely breaking all over again.  But it's okay to be broken and I constantly tell myself this when all else fails.  I believe people put on this fake façade; but what I've realized once I started reading poetry and all these inspiring quotes in depth. I realized that we all experience days like this, we are all broken in some way. Nobody is alone. So if you are that person, who plays the tough girl or the tough guy...good for you but it's okay to break down. It's okay to be vulnerable. 
{5} "There is still beauty in the people who were broken, peace can be found in places where chaos once lived"  -r.h sin
Everyone has been broken at least once in their lives, it's inevitably and that's the cold hard truth. Everyone has gone through some sort of chaos. And all I have to say about this is: There is peace. Don't give up on finding this peace because there's always the light at the end of the tunnel... don't give up on searching for the rainbow after the storm. It's there. It's always there. 
{6} "I got older, I realized how bad it was. I lost a lot of people growing up. Some would smile, and then try to destroy me, destroy themselves. I had to learn how to tell the difference between laughter and screams. Between a flower and a knife. Between a violent welcome and a gently goodbye. That is how it was. That is how it still is. " 
I saved this one for last because when I first read this poem by R. M. Drake, it really hit me hard. I remember sitting in my room after reading this and just being absolutely speechless. I've never related so much. The older you get, the more you learn. And what you learn is not something they teach you in school, or something your parents and family can protect you from.  As humans, we can only really control ourselves. We can't read minds. People can come into our lives and tell us they love us, and then leave the next day. And that hurts. But that's not something anyone can protect you from. And it's nothing you can avoid. You don't know what people are thinking and if you've ever blamed yourself for someone just up and leaving without any explanation...don't. Don't blame yourself. People laugh, when inside they're screaming. Screaming for help. We have gotten so good at pretending. And when we pretend, we eventually become the person we are pretending to be. And that's not necessarily healthy for our being.  The flower and knife metaphor is absolutely brilliant. A flower being gentle and beautiful and a knife being sharp and potentially deadly. There's not really an in between, is there?  Like I said before, people will come into our lives and they can leave us in an instant. But we are human and we want to trust each other. But that's not exactly the easiest thing to do. There's always a hello, and there's always a goodbye. You never know if the goodbye is going to be permanent or temporary.  Maybe back in the firefly catching days, things are simpler than this. But we grow up, and it gets complicated.