A Beautiful Ripple Effect

It’s been quiet here in my virtual home – a reflection of more struggle and uncertainty that has come my way. I’m beginning to sound like a broken record, but I think it’s important to say something – anything – rather than nothing. So here I go. I’m okay and I’m going to be okay. It’s strange to know that with such certainty when the situation I’m currently in would have broken me apart in the past. I have become so resilient which is ironic because I thought I was already pretty resilient – but I suppose you never really know your true strength until it is put to the test. I know I’m enough even though my “enough” isn’t their “enough” in my current situation. I apologize for being so vague, but something is better than nothing.

I won’t ramble on too much more because a) I know you’re not here for the Carolyn Soap Opera … b) what I want to say is not fully known to me – and I want to share knowledge with you, not just personal feelings … and c) I want to open up to you about what I’m saying between the lines – what has this struggle been about? And I know that time is coming soon.

In the meantime, I want to share some quotes I’ve been collecting recently on change and uncertainty. Hopefully, for those of you who may be living between the lines, some of these words will resonate with you.

The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance. – Alan Watts

You have to fight a battle more than once to win it. – Margaret Thatcher

When you come to the edge of all the light you have, and must take a step into the darkness of the unknown, believe that one of two things will happen. Either there will be something solid for you to stand on or you will be taught how to fly. – Patrick Overton

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ – Eleanor Roosevelt

There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth. – Maya Angelou

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. – Albert Einstein

So keep your head high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life’s a beautiful thing and there’s so much to smile about. – Marilyn Monroe

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give. – Eleanor Roosevelt

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. – Mark Twain

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life’s a bitch. You’ve got to go out and kick ass. –Maya Angelou

If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living. – Gail Sheehy

We all have big changes in our lives that are more or less a second chance. – Harrison Ford

Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken. – Frank Herbert

We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated. – Maya Angelou

Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts. – Arnold Bennett

Do you have any favorite quotes or words of wisdom? Let’s dance together.

image: lucy snowe {etsy | blog}