Caroline Kaufman Quotes

last night, I felt it.
happiness.
I didn't recognize the spark at first.
I had forgotten what it was like.
but then, there it was.
a flash of light.
a second of warmth.
a glimmer of hope when all I had for years was darkness.
and just the idea that this might not last forever is motivation enough to keep going.

Be grateful that
Time will heal the wounds but
Leave the scars.

How else will you
Remember all that
You've survived?

I am not pretty.
I have never been pure or soft or sweet.
I am beautiful.
Dirt still on my shoulder as I rise from the ground. Scars forming and healing like galaxies over my skin.
I am beautiful in the way I fought back when I was buried.
I turned the dirt and mud into soil, and grew.

This year, I fell in love with myself.
I told myself thank you.
I'm sorry.
It's okay.
Thank you for fighting to survive even when I don't want to.
I'm sorry I blame you for things you can't control.
It's okay that you're not perfect.
I will love you anyway.
Now, I look at my face in the mirror instead of my body.
You are the most important person in my life.

Don't ask for respect;
Demand it.

Don't look for opportunity;
Grab it.

Don't add to the world;
Change it.

You can't root yourself
In the ground, hoping the world
Will grow around you.

You were made to do
More than hide in the shadows
Of another's leaves

The problem was not asking him to complete me.
The problem was believing I was incomplete to begin with.

It's okay if some things
are always out of reach.
If you could carry all the stars
in the palm of your hand,
they wouldn't be
half as breathtaking

you held my wrists, propped me up, and moved me on your stage;
all my life has been a script and you wrote every page.
you set a backdrop, painted smiles, hid what was within;
come one, come all, and see her now: the doll in human skin!

I'm sure you've been offered the world, you're deserving of each land.
I bet you could sew up the valleys and mountains with just the touch of your hand.
I'm sure you've been offered the world, but my pockets have all been worn through.
So I'll write you an ocean, I'll write you a sky, and hope that's enough for you.

Find yourself in a page.
Look at where you are.
Find your past in the pages before.
Look at all that you have survived.
Find your future in the pages after.
Look at all that you have ahead.

I am still learning to let myself grow.
I am still learning that it is not selfish to let myself become the person I am meant to be.

The happiness will come slowly,
the way light filters in through the window in the early morning hours.
So slowly you don't even notice the night is ending,
until you wake up and see the sunlight.