This Work Is Not For Nothing. The Nights You Keep Pushing Forward, Even When You Feel Exhausted And Overworked.

“This work is not for nothing. The nights you keep pushing forward, even when you feel exhausted and overworked. The days you continue to show up and try, even when it’s uncomfortable and would be easy to quit. All the opportunities you have to postpone and all things you have to sacrifice in order to move toward what’s important to you. It has a purpose. Some things take time to build. And you’re building. You’re building and planting the seeds, and you’re growing. Even when you feel stuck. Even when the progression feels drawn out. You’re getting there, slowly, each and every day. It’s heavy, and the work is hard, but it’s not for nothing. You’ll get to where you want to be and you’ll become the person you want to become. Or maybe, you’ll blossom into a version of yourself you didn’t even know you wanted or didn’t know was possible. You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to think about everything you need to do to get to the finish line. You just have to focus on the most immediate thing in front of you and do what you need to survive today. This work will pay off. And if it doesn’t - if you end up somewhere else entirely — know that the growth it took to get to wherever you land is valuable in it’s own right. So keep building. Keep taking it one day at a time. Breathe. Things won’t be this hard forever. There’s a point beyond this pain, and you’ll get there.”

— Daniell Koepke

So I'm sorry everybody I just think I need a home

And for a little while that home is alone

Maggie Nelson, Bluets

“But being is making: not only large things, a family, a book, a business: but the shape we give this afternoon, a conversation between two friends, a meal.”

— Frank Bidart, from “Advice to the Players,”  Star Dust: Poems (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2005)

sisters by holly warburton / lockdown & physical intimacy among friends by anahit behrooz / tarot by rachel droter

Michaela Coel by Durga Chew-Bose for Garage