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Respecting yourself is so important. Speaking well about yourself. Taking care of yourself. Comforting yourself. Having empathy with yourself. Letting yourself rest. Surrounding yourself with people that treat you well and also respect you. Putting up boundaries with people that don't. You are worth the world.

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-despite everything, there is still love

@arthoesunshine/ @artsheila/ @daisies-on-a-cup/ @gayarsonist / @hjarta/ @yunawinter on twitter/ @bakwaaas/ @death-born-aphrodite/ anon on gentleearth/ @classicnymph on twitter

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So my friend asked her 7 year old niece how can she be sure that her crush likes her back and her niece answered "Because we laugh together." I will be thinking about this for the rest of my life.

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listen I know sometimes everything sucks and the world feels awful and like everything is out to get you but I promise even on your worst days the small mundane joys still prevail. your favourite plants and animals are still hanging out in nature. your favourite music still exists and you can listen to it whenever you want. your favourite media or that hobbie you used to love is still around waiting for you if you'd like to revisit it. you can still eat your favourite food or have your favourite drink. you can still spend time or talk to the people that love you. the stars are still in the sky and the sun will rise and set again and bring with it all of the colours of the sky. there are still things worth holding on for, sometimes you just have to look a little harder but I promise they're there.

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In case anyone else needs some help remembering that there is good in the world.

(And there is. I promise. So very much good. It's out there. It is.)

Feel free to add other good things in the tags.

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what are your twenties if not an endless string of the ghosts of who you thought you would become

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I think we should say no to hyper self analysis more often and just be

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Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment

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i like to pretend i already died and asked god to send me back to earth so i can swim in lakes again and see mountains and get my heart broken and love my friends and cry so hard in the bathroom and go grocery shopping 1,000 more times. and that i promised i would never forget the miracle of being here

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“I know for sure that what we dwell on is who we become.”

— Oprah Winfrey

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growing up is an endless process of me looking back at younger versions of myself and being like…. wow she was so young. but look how well she did with what she knew

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Of all the redemption arcs in popular fantasy media, I feel like Theoden's in The Lord of the Rings is the most overlooked.

The movies emphasize the magical control that the evil powers exercise over Theoden, but in the books, it's more obviously a depiction of bad kingship, in the British medieval sense. Theoden takes bad advice; he neglects his family; he fails to reward his knights; and he leaves his people vulnerable to attack. He also does not honor his kingdom's promises to help nearby kingdoms, as we can tell from Boromir's account of what Gondor has been going through.

Gandalf doesn't just cast out the curse and magically fix everything. He encourages Theoden to free himself from his bad advisor, but Theoden has to take all the subsequent steps. And those choices are not easy; after so much neglect, his knights are scattered, and his only option for defending his people is to gather them at Helm's Deep. The siege does not go well. His people are afraid and despairing. But nevertheless, he holds firm and charges out to meet the enemy -- and Gandalf literally meets him halfway, bringing with him the lost knights, whom Theoden welcomes and rewards after the battle.

Theoden could have just gone home after that. But when Gondor calls for aid, Theoden proves his worth by honoring his promises. He keeps his oaths not only to his people but to his allies.

And the climax of his redemption in the book is not his death, but his leadership. The ride of the Rohirrim against Sauron's armies is described in lavish detail, with an uncharacteristically heated pace: Theoden leads the entire line of Rohan, his banner streaming behind him in the wind as they race toward their foe. And that's the end of the chapter.

I love Theoden's arc so much, and especially that moment so much, because the message is not that he has to win battles or seek power. He just has to keep fighting. Theoden's greatest enemy isn't really Sauron: it's despair. And over the course of the book, he keeps choosing hope and action over despair and hesitation, until finally he can lead his people with courage.

As someone who struggles a lot with despair, I really needed to hear that story.

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life used to be so fucking simple. you could just be the guy whos really good at making ropes and that would be your entire life