Broken Crayons
Good morning, friends!
I hope you had a lovely weekend and that you have a great week!
Last Monday was a holiday for us in Canada and if you had it off too I hope you enjoyed Labour day with your family. If you had to work, I hope your Monday was a good one!
I wanted to share some powerful imagery with you. The quote to the right is truly one of the best images of encouragement.
No matter what you are facing, no matter the difficulty or how broken you are feeling you are still capable, strong, and incredibly brave; you can do this. You’ve got this. Everyone feels a little broken sometimes and, like Trent said, broken crayons still colour. They still make the most beautiful pictures. They are still bright, colourful, and full of life. So are you. You can still colour even if it’s just a line or two; day by day you’ll get more down on the page and continue to create the beautiful art that is your life. You can do this.
The other thing to look at here is that we are all a little broken. You’re not alone and we’re all in this together. Isn’t that what they always say? Well it’s true, but I’m also going to look at this from a different perspective. What if you’re always broken? I know that doesn’t sound great, but bear with me. What if when you are having a hard time you haven’t broken; you were not whole and then fell apart. What if we are broken all the time. You are a complex weave of puzzle pieces that move in and out of place daily. There are so many different pieces that make up who you are and they change all the time. You aren’t the same person you were 20 minutes ago and you are constantly changing, learning, and growing. How can you be whole when you’re constantly changing, learning and growing? Why put that impossible idea of “wholeness” into place in a world that demands you be flexible, willing to learn and grow. It doesn’t really make sense. What if the darkness, the sadness, the “brokenness” is just another beautiful piece of you. What if it’s okay to feel, and sit with, those pieces. What if the best way to heal and grow is to acknowledge those pieces as part of you instead of something bad, or wrong, or broken. What if these pieces give you strength to get better, work harder, face your fears, or learn something new. What if these broken pieces show you that you’re human and things get hard. They might perhaps show you that they are always there, they just sometimes take a back seat and let the brighter puzzle pieces do the work. They didn’t break you. The heaviness didn’t ruin you. You’re beautifully broken, just like the rest of us.
It’s the same idea as “nobody’s perfect”. I know it doesn’t sounds great to say that you’re always broken, but isn’t it a relief to hear that you don’t have to be a complete puzzle? That some pieces are bigger one day and they shrink the next. Some are missing, or get lost for a bit and come back. Some you add on as you learn new things. You don’t have to be perfectly whole. You can be broken and still be incredible. You can still put beautiful art into the world as you create the best version of yourself throughout life.
The point is, when you feel broken, sad, or discouraged, remember it’s just a piece of your puzzle. It doesn’t ruin the whole puzzle. It’s merely a piece and the heaviness will come and it will go, but you can still colour. And my goodness you’re good at it.
As always, be gentle with yourself,
Katrina
xo
