Falling into the default

My little girl has a composure and strength about her. I look in her eyes and I see determination and an unwavering confidence. I see absolute happiness.


I like to think of it as the basis that will set her up for a future that will include hard times and confidence crises. If she has this to go back on, this knowledge that the world is good, everything will fall back into place for her. If she knows how to be happy and proud of herself, she'll fall back into that state easily. (Or, at the very least, she'll be able to find some humour in it all and laugh.)

And it was as I wrote those lines, words that I expected I'd probably never publish, that I received this email:

"The darkness you write about and need to be the best sound very familiar. But you also seem to know peace, strength, some kind of certainty that life will find a way and everything will go better than we expect."

This email came from a lady I don't know, who lives somewhere on the other side of the world. She managed to sum me up in two sentences. Powerful words - and thank you, M, for seeing me through this little patch of the internet.

It shows me that what I'm doing here really does create a connection. If I can help someone see that things will be okay for them, too - well, how cool is that? That's what other blogs do for me, as well - they've taught me a lot about other people and about myself.

When I read this email, I went back to those words at the top of this post. Words that are about my girl, but could also be written about me. That was me.

I, too, have a default state of strength, determination and happiness.

Many of us do, I believe. We just have to find it and let ourselves fall back in.