IMPORTANT NOTICE!

Hey, hey, good friends! This is important, and I need to share it with you before I delude myself into thinking you don't need to hear this. Be there for the people you care about. Yeah, I know it seems obvious, but I've fucked this one up enough to have learned the hard way, and, man, while “no regrets” is ideal, I can promise you that it's challenging, in hindsight, to forgive yourself for not being there for the people you care about when they needed you the most. Self-compassion is all you've got, then, and it invariably feels a bit hollow and self-serving in the face of your failure, in the pain it might have caused others. So avoid that shit. Even when it seems to put you out a bit, even when you're annoyed or pissed at the person you care about, even when you want to believe and convince yourself that they don't really need you, that things will work out fine, just do yourself a favor and put in the time and energy that person needs from you right then.

Somebody said “it's better to regret having done something than to regret not having done something,” and I used to think that applied strictly to daring fun or adventures, but I see now that it also applies to the things we don't always feel like doing. You'll figure out the difference between another's need for you and their abuse of you, should you need to; but don't fear the latter. You can handle and end a little abuse more readily than you can regret.

Probably you have figured all of this out already. I think for most it's perhaps intuitive, or maybe it gets covered in the saccharine and Disney flicks which I have always avoided. In any case, not everybody (myself included) has been so gifted or clever, so I am telling you now: be there for the people you care about when they say they need you, or want you around.

And if you can manage it, care about a lot of people, and see how wealthy you are by giving all that you can.

Be well and love well, my friends!

*I posted this first on Facebook. I'll share here and there as I see fit.