Be the one who stays soft.

Sometimes, the world can beat you down. It can be harsh and cruel and disappointing, and it can seem like the only way to survive, let alone thrive, is to steel yourself against the chaos and rid yourself of the softness that’s within you. Sometimes you start to believe the lie that you must harden your heart to make living easier. Sometimes you start to wish and want ice to run through your veins instead of warm blood.

Please don’t do that. Please be the one who stays soft.

Your softness is like a warm cup of tea when all the world is rainy and grey. It warms from the inside out. And I hope you hear me when I say that the world needs more warmth.

Your softness is a soothing presence in this crazy world. It is calming. It is healing. And I just can’t help but believe the world needs a bit of healing. I just can’t help fighting for your calm.

Your softness is beautiful. It’s raw, it’s unassuming, it’s imperfect. It sees and seeks the beauty and the best in other souls, even when it’s not easy. When the potential for heartbreak is there, when the hard bits of life do their best to stab it and hurt it and turn it hard, it still sees the good.

I know it’s exhausting to be the one who stays soft.

I know it seems easier to be the one who is steely and cold, the one who has hardened their heart.

I get it, I do.

But your softness is magic. And it would be a crime and a shame to let magic fade.

The next time you’re swimming through your tears and holding the pieces of your broken of your heart in your hands and trying to figure out how to make yourself stone, please take a minute.

Close your eyes and take a deep breath.

Let the air fill your lungs.

Let yourself self listen to the beat of your own heart.

Do you hear that sound? It’s constant. It’s pure, and beautiful, and lovely, and warm, and hopeful, and joyful. It’s your magic. It’s your softness, and it’s made of all the good things that we fight for in this life — light, hope, honesty, truth, joy, and love.

Please don’t let the world rob you of your softness.

Be the one who stays soft.