Some people have visible scars, like this sand dollar does. It’s easy to see that this one is damaged goods and most people would not bother to pick it up off the beach. But it’s a survivor. Something munched on it, or it hit something and everything changed. It still grew, just differently than other sand dollars did. It has a unique beauty as a result of living through the damage.
As we go through life, we get worn down and maybe even broken a time or two (or three), like this fragment. Its ridges have been worn smooth by the buffeting of the surf, tumbling it across the sand over and over and over. It’s not a perfect shell by any means, but it’s beautiful in its own way.
As we get older, we get tumbled around too. We weather storms internal and external, some that no one sees but you, and you remember each one. Our wounds turn into scars, and those scars combined represent a life of choices and challenges, all of us survivors in this thing we call life.
May you age as beautifully as this lovely piece.
Wounds don’t heal the way you want them to. They heal the way they need to. It takes time for wounds to fade into scars. It takes time for the process of healing to take place. Give yourself that time. Give yourself that grace. Be gentle with your wounds. Be gentle with your heart.
Dele Olanubi
Totally “stealing” that quote…
I love that quote. It gives me a new way to think about a few old wounds that never seem to quite heal.
Beautiful words Annie. ❤️