once you learn that the sting of rejection does not wound nearly as badly as the torment of regret, and that fear itself is more intimidating than what you are actually afraid of, you are invincible.
MY FIRST LOVE: the earliest flame to catch the wick of my heart. She burned bright and long, keeping me warm through Winter. In Spring, the branches began to fall, and her fire consumed so brightly it burned.
MY SECOND LOVE: a brilliant firework. When I fell, he reached out to catch me, but I knocked him to the ground with the weight of my heart. Never close enough to hold, he was gone just as quickly as he came.
MY THIRD LOVE: you set a fire in me I cannot extinguish, you travel through my veins. The first to heat my whole body: the only one I have allowed to spread this far. I am letting down my firewalls, risking third-degree burns, but there is something thrilling about seeing torches in your eyes.
1. If their eyes ever falter as you walk into a room, walk away. You may not believe it, but you deserve to be reflected in their irises.
2. If you’re sitting in your bed with their voice echoing in your head, using your sheets to wipe your nose, and can think of sixteen reasons to go and one to stay, you should go. You will find someone better for you, I promise.
3. If you go into it hoping you can get them to smoke less weed or stop saying ‘fuck’ so damn much, don’t go further. Old habits die hard, if at all; make sure you can live with their quirks.
4. If they hold their glass of vodka closer than your waist, let them go. You do not deserve to come in second to their vices.
5. If they pinch your love handles and tell you your curls look better straightened, leave. The way you were created deserves to be adored.
6. Know you are worth millions of atoms, of stardust and spiraling staircases of double helixes, and do not accept anything less than love.
Silenticel 