put this in your pocket

For whatever waits beyond the door. 

There will be days when you forget.

You will forget how far you’ve come.

Forget things you once thought you would never survive.

Forget how many times you figured something out after being absolutely certain you couldn’t.

Forget the people whose lives are different because you were there.

Forget that you have already begun again.

More than once.

That’s all right.

Human beings forget.

Perhaps that’s why we leave reminders for one another.

For the Difficult Day

There may come a morning when getting through the day feels like enough.

Let it be enough.

You don’t need to turn every difficult season into a lesson while you’re still living it.

You don’t need to find the silver lining.

You don’t have to be inspirational.

You are allowed to simply make it through Tuesday.

Eat.

Rest.

Do the next necessary thing.

Leave everything else until tomorrow.

Some days aren’t meant for conquering.

They’re meant for getting through gently.

For the Good Day

Don’t hurry through that one either.

This is important.

When the coffee tastes particularly good—

notice.

When someone you love is laughing—

listen.

When the weather is perfect and you have nowhere urgent to be—

stay five minutes longer.

When you realize, unexpectedly, that you are happy—

don’t immediately wonder how long it will last.

Be there.

Good moments deserve our attention too.

For the Day You Don’t Know the Way

You won’t always.

Nobody does.

Sometimes the road reveals itself only after we begin walking.

Choose the next honest step.

Not the entire journey.

Just the next one.

You are allowed to change direction when you learn something new.

You are allowed to stop and ask.

You are allowed to stand still for a while.

Lost and unfinished are not the same thing.

For the Day Someone Needs You

You will not always know what to say.

Say less.

Listen more.

Sit down.

Make the coffee.

Bring the soup.

Send the message.

Remember the date.

Ask the question.

Offer the hug—

and wait for the answer.

Sometimes the greatest kindness is simply making certain another person does not have to stand in a difficult moment entirely alone.

For the Day You Need Someone

Please remember that you are allowed to be the one who needs something too.

You don’t always have to be the strong one.

The helper.

The listener.

The person who figures it out.

Let somebody bring you the coffee.

Let somebody sit beside you.

Let someone carry one corner of what is heavy.

Receiving does not diminish what you have given.

Perhaps it completes the circle.

For an Ordinary Day

Especially this one.

Because most of a life happens here.

Not at weddings.

Not at funerals.

Not on opening nights or closing days.

Not during the moments we photograph and frame.

Life is mostly:

Tuesday morning.

Laundry.

A familiar voice from another room.

Something thawing for dinner.

A dog asleep somewhere nearby.

The same road home.

A cup in the sink.

Sunlight moving slowly across the floor.

And one day, we would give almost anything to have one of those ordinary days back.

So occasionally—

while you’re still inside one—

notice.

And For Whatever Comes Next

There are things ahead of you that you cannot possibly know about today.

People you haven’t met.

Conversations that haven’t happened.

Places you haven’t stood.

Things you haven’t made.

Books you haven’t read.

Songs you haven’t heard.

Questions you haven’t thought to ask.

Tiny moments that will become enormous memories.

Somewhere ahead, there is laughter you haven’t laughed yet.

There is beauty you haven’t noticed.

There is kindness you haven’t received.

There is kindness only you will be able to give.

There is more.

Not because every chapter will be easy.

It won’t.

Not because nothing difficult will happen.

It will.

Simply because the story is still moving.

And you are still here to meet it.

Before You Go

You don’t need to carry every word from this shelf.

That would rather defeat the purpose. 

Take one.

The one that keeps tugging at your sleeve.

Fold it small.

Put it somewhere safe.

And when you no longer need it—

perhaps give it away.

Leave it in a book.

Tuck it into a lunch.

Send it to a friend.

Hand it to someone having a difficult day.

Write it on another piece of paper and leave it somewhere a stranger might find it.

Because perhaps the things we carry were never intended to stay in our pockets forever.

Perhaps some are meant to travel.

From one person—

to another—

to another.

A little human chain of:

Here.

This helped me.

Maybe you need it now.

And somewhere, eventually, the words may reach someone neither of us will ever meet.

I rather like that.

Take what you need.

And when the time comes, pass it on.

FOR YOUR POCKET

FOR YOUR POCKET

You have survived days
you thought would undo you.

You have begun again before.

You have been someone’s
unexpected kindness.

There are still things ahead
you haven’t met yet
that will make you glad
you stayed long enough to find them.

Keep going.

And when you no longer need this—

pass it on.