Love

love, kindness

KINDNESS IS A CURRENCY

By / Aug 27, 2025

Life can be harsh. Harsh is not even the correct word to use. It can be excruciating, exhausting, desperate. We are constantly drenched in uncomfortable and testing situations. We all know the saying ‘be kind, everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about’ , but what that saying doesn’t mention is that every day, people are fighting battles, but they are also losing battles. Not every day is a winning day. Not every day is a beautiful, joyful day. As humans, we are put to the test every single day. Not all tests are the same, and not everyone goes through the same thing. One might think your situation is less traumatic than someone else’s, but who knows how you are affected by what you are going through compared to another person?

There should be no comparison. Only compassion.


There are days when you can’t get out of bed, days when the lump in your throat constricts you from speaking, or when you are working extra hard just not to cry because you are feeling downright sad. Our minds are a battlefield, and sometimes we find ourselves behind enemy lines.

And that’s okay, we are allowed to feel sad. We can’t win every day, we can’t be strong every day.
Every day I come across stories of people who are suffering; it’s death and poverty and it’s loneliness and it’s hurt and pain and confusion and loss and grief – I am surrounded by it every day. There are days where I ask God, ‘Why do all these bad things happen? Why do mothers kill their children and why are there wars ? Why do people in power take advantage of the very people they are meant to work for and protect? What is the point of all of it?

We must be kind, always be kind and compassionate, but also have emotional intelligence. We must understand that sometimes, when someone is treating us in an unkind manner, they might be fighting that day to keep their heads above water. It might not always be the case, but let love lead, and the rest will follow.
Kindness is a currency. Today might be the day that you can be a shoulder for someone, and tomorrow, you might need them.

kindness, chalk, handwritten, word, handwriting, message, kind, drawing, positive, expression, kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness, kindness, kind-1197351.jpg


Life is simple when we focus on small acts of kindness.

A kind word or deed, like paying for someone’s

Lunch or offering a listening ear.

Giving someone a warm hug when you can see they need it or

Holding a mother’s baby while she takes a breath.

Simple things, not so?

But your heart has to be in it. It has to be sincere and honest,

Without any expectation in return.

It’s doing what we can to make another person’s life easier

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TO THE MEN WHO MADE ME CRY

By / Jul 2, 2025

I’m writing to you with a broken heart and bloodshot eyes

You had many reasons to justify why I was wrong and maybe you were right;

I’m too emotional, I’m too needy, I overthink too much, I’m just too much…

You were all different but somehow your reasons were all the same.

It made me wonder and maybe even believe that I was the problem.

I sit in a dark, cold room; my eyes soaked with tears, typing this out in the hopes that all the feelings I might still have for any of you will leave my heart and only live on in this letter.

I loved you, all of you.

In different ways but somehow still the same

I loved you desperately.

I loved you to the point where I was willing to change who I was and who I am just so that you could be more comfortable.

I told myself to speak less or make sure I said the right things so that you could compliment me on my intellect or on the way I spoke. Maybe if I sounded smarter, you would take me more seriously.

“Don’t cry so much, pretend to be tough and not so emotional. Don’t show him it bothers you ” I would say

Don’t be so needy;

don’t touch him unless he touches you first,

don’t kiss him if he doesn’t initiate,

and don’t hold his hand in public, you know he doesn’t like it.

Don’t show him it bothers you.

Dress nice, for him.

Show some skin.

Show less skin.

Be sexy.

Be coy.

Listen when he speaks.

Take his advice on everything,

He is smarter than you are anyway.

Be less.

Make yourself smaller.

And on and on it would go.

You all made me cry and none of you gave it a second thought.

You took a bit of my essence, piece by piece;

you filled yourself up with me;

moaning and groaning in my ear when all I wanted to hear was

I love you.

I see you.

I will cry it all out here in this dark room,

In the hopes that when I wake in the morning I will be cured of my stupidity and naivety.

You hurt me. All of you.

And yet, I still reached out

While you continued to throw rocks at me.

You continue to make me shed tears to the point that my eyes are flooded and I can no longer see the screen in front of me.

I thought I had no more tears left to cry but my own heart lied to me.

I am hoping that this will be the last.

I will not do this again.

Hurt myself,

Over

And over

And over

Again.

How do so many different men have the unique ability to make one person feel so undeserving of love?

How do you become part of such a brotherhood?

You speak to me with such contempt.

You wear your arrogance like a badge.

It is not in my nature to hold grudges,

I have forgiven you all long ago but I can’t help but wonder;

Were my lips so bitter pressed against yours that you can now no longer say a kind word to me?

Was I such a horrific sight in your eyes that you can now no longer look at me without disgust?

Was the love I shared with you so terrible that the memory of me in your life now detests you?

What was so appalling about me

that you had to treat me like yesterday’s trash?

To the men who made me cry,

I sincerely do not wish you ill; I pray peace over you but I also thank you;

because now I can tell the difference between real love and

what you made me believe was love.

And it is certainly not the same thing.

rose, love, valentine's day

IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR HEART

By / Feb 14, 2025

i give you this rose,
hand-picked for
you alone

as soft as it is scented
its nestled in the palms of
these hands that will

hold you
protect you
love you
forever

petals imperfect
beautifully designed
like precious jewels
i hand you this gift
in exchange for your heart

as you carefully reach out
i say a silent prayer;
that even when this
beautiful rose may
whither and perish
that our union
may not.

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MAKING THE BEST OF THE TIME WE HAVE

By / Sep 4, 2024

Death is so sudden. We never know when it’s going to visit us. Whether directly or indirectly.
I was watching a video of someone who had just lost a loved one and he said that it was so sudden, no one expected this person to die. He had spoken to this person just the day before and there was no indication of sickness whatsoever and now she was gone.

Even when we know someone is at the end of their life, whether by old age or illness, we can’t always accept that they are about to leave us. And once they do, that void left behind is so palpable, so tangible.

So many people are experiencing loss lately. I see it everywhere.

I work in news and I see death on a daily basis. At times, I feel a bit disensititized and then I have to remind myself, that someone has lost a loved one and that it could have easily been me in that situation.

It’s strange though, before I lost my mother in 2020, I didn’t understand death or its impact but now, it’s as if I can feel everyone’s pain, everyone’s grief because it reminds me of my own.

Isn’t funny though, how something like death can be the thread that connects us?

Life is short and death is sudden. I don’t think we realize that any day can be our last. We are busy making plans for tomorrow but don’t know if tomorrow is on our calendar.

We haven’t accepted it. Our human minds can’t comprehend it.

I was watching a show and one of the characters delivered the following line:

“All we can do is the best we can with the time that is given to us”

We’ve all heard the saying, ‘Live each day as if it’s your last’
but what if we lived each day as if it were our first?
Full of wonder and curiosity and joy, love and gratitude. Untainted by heartache, pain, loss, grief, anger, hate or unforgiveness.
But rather as if we’re experiencing the world for the very first time.
With a gentle approach, an open mind, and a receiving heart.

We don’t know when our last day on earth will be.
All we have is today. You can choose how you spend it.

There are many things I wish I could have said to my mother before she died and sadly, we only realize these things afterwards but we still have many other loved ones we can cherish and appreciate.

Don’t waste it. Be kind, loving gentle, and compassionate.
Be good.

Our behavior and actions are all we can control.

Death is out of our hands. How we live our life that has been gifted to us is all we have.

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boy, butterflies, couple-1312796.jpg

A LOVE LIKE THIS

By / Dec 17, 2023
Have you ever had someone look at you
Like you were the sun?
Beautiful and fiery.
Passionate and addictive.
Our love was fast and hard.
Explosive and tender.
It erased who we thought we were and made us new.
It made us one.
It connected us, vessel to vessel.
I am reaching out, and I fit perfectly.
I think of him, and I no longer feel alone.
We are one. I am a part of him, and he is a part of me.
Not only through physical intimacy,
but our souls, our minds and our hearts
embedded onto the blueprint of the other.
Although a comfortable pace and routine remain now,
the fire still burns.
I feel it. I know he does, too.
I don’t need him to live and breathe.
He breathes life into my spirit.
He does not define me.
My heart’s love for him is defined by who he is.
Knowing he is living and breathing on this planet,
even apart, makes me feel safe.
It makes me feel that all is right in this world.
He is the moon to my stars.
The sky to my sun.
Magnificent apart
But
Exceptionally wonderful together.
woman, vintage manuscript, old paper-6930526.jpg

I STILL LOVE SAD POEMS

By / Sep 10, 2023

I still love sad poetry.
I love to know that hearts are still able to heal after suffering.
It brings me comfort to know that loneliness doesn’t last.
I smile when I think Spring comes after Winter,
and the sun still rises in the morning.
I still love sad poetry.
It brings me hope when days are long and nights are cold.
I still believe in new beginnings when I read stanzas of tears on a page, and I see broken hearts in the smiles of strangers.
I still love sad poetry.
I still write sad poetry.
It makes me feel, and it makes me think,
and it helps me remember the days when I wasn’t sad.

adult, mother, daughter

SWEET GIRL

By / Aug 25, 2023

Sweet girl,

You will have your heart broken.

It is unavoidable. It is part of life.

It will feel like your world collapses and you cannot stop it.

It will feel as if the sun disappeared and the stars vanished.

Everything will lose its colour, and food will no longer be appetizing.

Music will be your only comfort, and melancholy will blanket you.

You will feel pain so palpable that you never thought possible. 

You will cry rivers of sadness that will be unstoppable, breaking against the tides of your childhood dreams.

I look at your sweet face and dread the day it happens.

But,

I also welcome that day.

Because that will be your day of recognition, and it will be the day you are tested.

Your willpower and resilience will show, and you will discover your strength. 

You will learn to rebuild all you have lost and what has been taken from you.

My darling,

Your first heartbreak will be the first day of the rest of your life.

Do not be afraid, my love.

Be brave and be strong.

And always forgive.

Not just them,

But yourself.

I am writing you this to prepare you, but the truth is no preparation could ever make you ready for the day it happens.

When it does happen, mourn for what you lost,

But come back and try again.

For love is a beautiful experience,

And deserves a second chance,

And a third,

And a fourth.

Do not fear love.

Please do not shy away from it.

Do not curse love.

Do not take advantage of love.

And always remember;

To guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

women, friends, support-7808776.jpg

THIS WOMAN

By / Aug 4, 2023

Yesterday I met a woman.

This woman was me in many ways, except for the reasons she wasn’t.

She was a woman who had to survive many painful obstacles; prostitution, abandonment, unemployment, living on the streets, and many other social ills.

Our struggles differ, but our desire to overcome them is the same. 

I saw something in her: a stranger I have never met before and will probably never meet again.

I saw a fighting spirit.

Things I thought I had lost in myself, but her yellow-stained eyes reflected it when I looked at her.

This woman stood before me with joy, a smile, and hope in her heart.

Like many others, she had to sacrifice a part of herself to get through life and reach this point, where she stood in front of me with a smile so broad I couldn’t help but smile too.

She speaks about the life she used to live without shame and her life now with pride. She embraces every challenge she has endured to get to where she is today.

We don’t share the same skin colour or the same mother tongue. 

We don’t have the same economic standing or have the same employment status.

We don’t enjoy the same opportunities or possibilities nor are we the same age or grew up the same way.

But it is precisely those differences that make us the same. 

The spirit of a warrior woman, one who doesn’t give up.

One who doesn’t have much but still gives.

Someone who doesn’t know it all but continues to learn.

This woman that I met yesterday;

A mother

A sister

A wife

A friend

A loved one. 

This woman is me.

This woman is you.

She is all of us.

This post was orginally written and published in June 2018

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EVENTUALLY

By / May 10, 2023

It’s going to hurt until it no longer does.
It’s going to tear at you and pull you apart
Until you learn to put yourself together again.
Eventually all this will just become a distant memory.
Eventually the pain will disappear.
Your hands will stop shaking.
You will breathe again.
Eventually
You’ll stop searching and start appreciating.
You’ll stop waiting and wishing.
You’ll stop regretting and start living.
Eventually you’ll stop blaming yourself and start forgiving yourself,
Eventually.
It might not happen today.
But it’ll happen,
Eventually.

Motherless, child, Grief

A MOTHERLESS CHILD

By / Apr 18, 2023

I used to sit on my mother’s lap

Out on the balcony

Watching cars go by

Talking about nothing and everything

She used to stroke my hair

With her aging hands

Or clean my ears with a bobby pin

I could have sat there for hours

I miss being her child

Her youngest daughter

My sisters would tease me, saying I’m spoilt

And her favourite

I would frown, scrunch my nose at them but

Really,

It brought me pure joy

Now I am a motherless daughter

With a daughter of my own

Needing my mother

more than I ever could have ever known

I miss her

I miss my mother every day

I swallow tears and try to ignore the lump

In my throat

Sitting there like a constant reminder of what I lost

I guess it is true what they say

Grief never leaves you

You don’t outgrow it

You simply grow around it.