I think in hindsight, it’s easy to say shiny retrospective things like, “I never lost hope” or “I tried to do the right thing” or “I did my best” or “I learned through my pain.” It could be true, but often it’s disingenuous double-talk that cleans up our messy complicated motives. Sometimes it’s okay to admit we were completely hopeless, that we didn’t try our hardest, that we had the worst of intentions, that pain was just pain. It’s good to reflect, but we can’t always force a blog post or bowtie to wrap it all up. It’s hardly ever pretty and poetic in the moment: but life doesn’t need a polish to be life. Every moment, from the mundane to tedious to chaotic to triumphant, does not need our glossing over to be sacred on its own.

— J.S.