Imagine reading a book with no way to turn back the page. No rereading a chapter. No flipping back to catch what you missed. No undo. How carefully would you read it? Life feels a lot like that. Not in a dramatic, everything-is-fragile way—but in a quiet, sobering one. Days move forward whether we’re ready…
Tag: self love
Love Is Not Just a Word
“I love you” should be one of the safest places in the world. But too often, it becomes the most confusing. Some people say the words so easily, so casually, as if they are light. But love—real love—is anything but light. It carries weight. It should mean something. Love is not just affection. It is…
A Love Focused on Self is Not Love
There’s a kind of love that feels good, sounds right, and even looks admirable from a distance—but when examined closely, it is rooted not in care for others but in the elevation of self. We live in a culture that often confuses love with desire, attention, or validation. “Love yourself first,” we’re told—and while there…
Love Shouldn’t Cost You Yourself
There’s a hard truth many of us learn only after we’ve been bruised by love: You cannot change someone by loving them harder. Maybe you’ve been there—giving all you had, hoping your unconditional love would be enough to soften their words, change their actions, or finally make them see your worth. You stayed quiet to…
Am I loved Or Just Useful?
There’s a kind of ache that doesn’t show on the outside. It creeps in quietly, usually when you’re going about your day doing what needs to be done—folding laundry, preparing meals, answering texts, holding things together. It’s a slow ache that whispers a question you didn’t expect to ask, one that makes your heart pause:…
Dear Me,
Wow! Happy Birthday! Can you believe you’re fifty-five? Where do I start? Today marks a new beginning for you. Only time will tell how it’ll move forward, but it’s a step that you have to take. You deserve it. When you first moved here with no family around, you stepped courageously into the unknown. How…
Our Kintsugi
Nowadays, we have all kinds of applications and filters to make everything look good, perfect, and unblemished. We have everything we can use to hide our flaws and everything else that we think of as imperfections. Kintsugi is the art of repairing broken pottery with gold, highlighting the cracks rather than hiding them. It symbolizes…
Your Oubaitori
Have you heard of the word Oubaitori? Oubaitori is an ancient Japanese idiom that comes from the kanji for the four trees (cherry blossoms, plum, peach and apricot) that blooms in spring. Each flower blooms in its own time and the meaning behind the idiom is that we all grow and bloom at our own…
That Thing Called Self-Love
“If you have the ability to love, love yourself first.” – Charles Bukowski At some point in our lives, we were told to give our all in everything. To love with all our heart. To be the best person that we can be. To always put our best foot forward. That sacrificing is the greatest…
{Brave}
“The only way to being at peace with yourself is to be accepting and loving of who you are.” Let me share you a story. Before I started blogging fourteen years ago, I was in a woman’s group and from there I became aware of this thing called blogging. And I told myself, Charina…you can…
Charina.Writes 