"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we're apart...I'll always be with you."
- Pooh Bear
I love Winnie The Pooh, I always have. And as I get older, I realise more and more the kind of jewels that ol' Winnie used to drop. I love this particular quote from Pooh Bear because it refers to love of the platonic kind as well as the romantic kind. I also love this quote because it reminds me of a friend that so often needs to hear this, because he has no idea how powerful he potentially is. He thinks he knows, but he actually doesn't realise the extent to which this is true.
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"We've got to live. No matter how many skies have fallen."
Sometimes life just seems to come down hard on you. This is something that I learnt from a really early age, and in my final year of high school, when it seemed like so many things and people that I trusted in and thought were true, turned out to be the complete opposite, I was crushed. In what seemed like such a short period of time, my best friend became my enemy.
This is not a best friend in the sense of meeting someone and being friends for a long time. This is someone who has always understood my tantrums when others wouldn't, who saw my pain even when I didn't even know there was any. This was someone who was supposed to be looking after me physically and emotionally, and I found myself having to do that for him. I didn't know how I could take what was left of what I thought was a big part of my identity and make new of it. I was unsure of myself and subsequently, I made not-so-smart decisions in a tantrum-like effort to try and carve a place for myself in the world.
D.H Lawrence's quote is the reason why I try to go through life without judging one person for another's mistakes. These are the words that I whisper to myself when I have to scrape myself off the ground- emotionally, financially or professionally. It's not always easy, but I always know that it's darkest before sunrise and that every experience is a learning curve that I shouldn't let darken or dampen my spirit, rather learn a little more about human nature.
A lot of people often find it strange that one would be calmed by a few words of wisdom from an ancient European male, but I've picked myself up from many a slump by remembering this quote.
For perspective, here's the full quote (which I actually put in my quotes section of my high school year book).
"Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen."
Taken from D.H Lawrence's Lady Chatterly's Lover. Classic read. Try it.
