#the most beautiful thing i've ever seen.

[inkskinned]

something i've been thinking a lot about is that just surviving is often both the least rewarding recovery experience and also the absolute most critical skill.

i think many of us have spent the last few years of our life just... holding the line. our legs trembling under all that weight. many of us backslid in the sand; and that was agonizing. we have spent so much of our life pushing, and to be forced backwards... we are already so exhausted. it is unimaginable to think we must remake the progress that had already been hard-won.

there's a graph that exists of how you can roughly expect any artistic skill to grow. we all go through periods of rapid growth and discovery; only to plateau. there is often a little sorrow in the plateau, because we're not moving quickly. we don't see those huge strides. there's no obvious sense we're learning.

but the art we're making in that plateau matters. it can still be effective, evocative, exciting. you can still feel inspired, happy, creative in that plateau; because the skills you have are growing, it's just that you're a spot where you don't need to focus on skill-building, you've finally reached a place where you can focus on actually making things. and at some point, without you expecting it, and as long as you work for it - another sharp increase in skill will happen. if you ask any of us how we did it, most of us would tell you the same thing: i just kept trying.

i have spent a lot of my life believing that just-surviving was the same thing as stagnating. i don't have any tangible goals or desires and the idea of making longterm plans makes me want to set my hair on fire. i am fucking tired. i don't want another year of scrambling, of falling down, of slipping in the mud. I love my friends, but i'm watching them settle down, have a life, get what they want: and i'm still here, in the part where i beg my life to be barely functional.

i think... maybe this whole time it wasn't standing still. it was still learning. it was still growing. i just got used to the plateau and forgot that "even surviving" isn't something i used to be able to take for granted. that in all this horrible, thankless effort - certain things are easy enough now. i can forget them.

i have spent so much time hating that i'm not getting better faster. i forgot that it used to be unthinkable to me to even consider recovery. these last years; i've been comparing my plateau to my eras of quick-discovery. i've been unfair to myself. no, the progress isn't as obvious. that doesn't mean it's not still-happening.

we make the mistake of saying "this year i want to live, not just survive," as if the effort of just surviving is useless, or could be shrugged off. the effort of surviving is beautiful. your years spent like barely-here are enough. you're not wasting time. you're not wasting your one precious life. "just holding on" means you were able to actually find and grab the rope. you're here; and the effort of your survival is work. you've been seeking the sky when it used to be impossible to imagine putting down roots. i know it is hard, and i hope you are able to feel better soon. i hope we both reach our next quick-climb. and i know - the weight might never ease up.

it's just that, over time, with effort: we will get strong enough.

[morushroom]

may i share with you the best video on the internet

[xxhumancentipedexx]

She's gorgeous i don't know

[mimimar]

i've been completely charmed by witch hat atelier♡

(art prints)

[apuff]

free palestine

(image) (video)

[elviehun]

The cutest thing you'll see today

[ticklingmesoftly]

Here's to the lees who aren't the "ideal." Who aren't insanely ticklish. Who don't have everyone, or anyone, drooling all over them and wanting to tickle them all day. Who don't have thin bodies, or good skin, or great hair. Who are so self-conscious that they don't post pics. Who don't have soft feet or a flat tummy or a proportionate figure. Who hate their smile and try to avoid showing it as much as possible. Who don't have a body small enough to wrap a hand around. Who have thick thighs and chubby tummies and noticeable body hair. Who don't have protruding hip bones to squeeze. Who aren't sensitive to every tool or every technique. Whose laughs aren't melodic or cute or sexy or "feminine enough" or "masculine enough." Who don't have reactions that people deem attractive. Who feel like they're too much or not enough or both, somehow. Who are tired of seeing everyone else look and sound so beautiful and sexy and desirable and perfect and wondering, "why not me? What have I done wrong and what can I do to be more like them?"

I don't want to say "you're all beautiful," because I don't know all of you and I think that would be insincere. But I see you. You are not alone.

[pharawee]

—I FEEL YOU LINGER IN THE AIR 💮 Episode 11

[jessahmewren]

🌿Back in the Green🌿, a work I commissioned from @lights-on-the-ridge to compliment this part of my Cee and Ezra series but, really is for everyone. Enjoy, Prospectors!

[mrsfitzgerald]

08.06.23. 💖

[elemental-plane]

elsie, turning into the beast on command for the first time:

rajan, immediately:

[scribefindegil]

hi it's my birthday you should tell me something nice you did or saw or made recently!

[me-sploh-rada-imas]

the blur around their mouths and lower part of their faces like it's leaving everything open to interpretation... the way their eyes are so intense and more in focus but still vague... the gaze being so intimate it feels like we shouldn't be looking... their hair shielding them from our view...

[tystrashcorner]

Vi deserves so much more than a pig who thinks of her as "one of the good ones."

[molkolsdal]

Aubriella by Gulnaaz Fashion

[beanghostprincess]

sanji and usopp are the type of couple to break up constantly and you never know if they're back together or not.

nami: tell your boyfriend- usopp: not my boyfriend anymore nami: what did he do again? usopp: he flirted with a girl way too much back on the last island sanji, crying in the background: MELLORINEEEEE PLEASE MON COEUR WHAT DID I DO WRONG?????!!!!