Prathima's Miles & Milestones

Be the best version of you

I hope you dare to keep loving deeply in a world that sometimes fails to do so. We are first individuals, later somebody’s wife or husband. Thrive independently.

In a generation that orders up attention like they order up a meal, in a generation that has started to live with one foot out the door, I hope you dare to believe that a genuine connection still exists.

And I hope you dare to stand up for that, to open yourself to it when you start to feel it bloom within your heart.

I hope you dare to appreciate it for all that it is, not to approach it wearing a mask, to not try to desensitize yourself to it or play it cool.

Please, I hope you dare to crash your heart into the people’s life gifts.

I hope you dare to believe that goodness still exists, that some have the capacity to love the way you do, and that there are those who will see you and grow you and teach you more about the world. I hope you dare to fight for connection.

I hope you dare to go deeper. To never exist on the surface of your life, even if it’s easier or more convenient. Ultimately, you should leave this world with a heart that is worn out and soft all over.

A heart that is bruised from loving, feeling, and caring in the best way possible. At the end of the day, you should be proud of your inability to be anything but open to the world. You should be proud of who you are.

I hope you dare to do the hard work. I hope you dare sit down with your demons, befriend them; to look them in the face, and not feel fear.

I hope you dare to stop picking or numbing or avoiding the wounds within, and I hope you choose to heal them instead.

I hope you dare to understand yourself, fundamentally — to open up the deepest, darkest parts of your mind, to unhinge your ribcage revealing the gritty parts of your soul, the parts no one else claps for, and I hope you dare to clean them out. To forgive yourself for what you had to do to kill your sadness. To forgive yourself for how you didn’t fight for the person you were becoming.

I hope you nurture your pain, not disregard it or sweep it under the rug of distraction or convenience.

I hope you dare to heal yourself, even when it hurts.

I hope you dare to know when to end things. And I hope you dare to see endings as beautiful, transformative stepping stones.

I hope you dare to let love, and opportunity move through you like rain. Do not grip, or seek to change it, do not ask people or circumstances to be more than they can be for you.

I hope you dare to see endings as the cornerstones of the chapters that changed you, without needing them to be a part of the rest of your story. And when that is done, I hope you dare to give yourself closure.

To be your own home. To be your safe place. I hope you dare to not let the losses destroy you, to not let them burrow into the heart of who you are and convince you that you failed, or that you are unworthy of the happiness you are standing up for in your life.

I hope you dare to see how you loved and tried and fought for something as a testament to just how deeply your capacity to feel is, just how beautiful moments can be when you appreciate them for what they were instead of nullifying them or letting them harden you to the world. Please, I hope you dare to move forward. I hope you dare to walk away with grace.

And as you move forward, I hope you dare to do things differently, to be the kind of person who takes the risk, to be the kind of person who leads with their heart and shows up in their life with a ruthless dedication to learning, and growing and enjoying the hell out of their moments here.

I hope you dare never to let comfort or apprehension convince you that you are better off staying still.

I hope you dare to trust the part of yourself that knows there’s more out there for you, the part of yourself that is easy to quit when you’re trying to live by the rules and the expectations of a world that has bred so much dissatisfaction and sadness.

I hope you dare to trust the part of yourself that seeks freedom from those trends, and from those boundaries, and I hope you dare to go after whatever it is that genuinely makes you want to get up in the morning.

I hope you dare to find the things in life that ignite you and deepen your understanding of the world and those within it.

I hope you dare to fight for a future that inspires you, even if it doesn’t look the way you thought it would.

I hope you dare to change. I hope you dare to trust in the person you’re becoming. There is no force equal to a woman determined to rise. You might be the only one who believes in you. But that’s all you need. You are not struggling, you’re in the midst of conquering.