ruin is the road to transformation.

“A friend took me to the most amazing place the other day. It’s called the Augusteum. Octavian Augustus built it to house his remains. When the barbarians came they trashed it a long with everything else. The great Augustus, Rome’s first true great emperor. How could he have imagined that Rome, the whole world as far as he was concerned, would be in ruins. It’s one of the quietest, loneliest places in Rome. The city has grown up around it over the centuries. It feels like a precious wound, a heartbreak you won’t let go of because it hurts too good. We all want things to stay the same. Settle for living in misery because we’re afraid of change, of things crumbling to ruins. Then I looked at around to this place, at the chaos it has endured – the way it has been adapted, burned, pillaged and found a way to build itself back up again. And I was reassured, maybe my life hasn’t been so chaotic, it’s just the world that is, and the real trap is getting attached to any of it. Ruin is a gift. Ruin is the road to transformation.”

-Liz Gilbert, Eat Pray Love. 

today has been a self-realizing day. i cried, i spoke openly, i considered things i've never thought of before. i can't think of a better quote in the world for the way i feel right now. perhaps i'll explain it all later. but for now, i'm content laying in bed and thinking about all of the things i've discovered about myself today. (sorry, that sounds a bit selfish doesn't it...) 

here is a bit of knowledge i want to pass on, sweet readers: take some time in your life to think about your troubles and tribulations. if you don't, no one else will. then they'll just sit around and weigh on you-like that old hula-hoop in the corner of your parent's basement that no one has the heart to give away. don't you think you should at least give it some recognition once in awhile? even if it seems silly, or old and useless, good can come of hula-hooping (even at this age...hello abdominal muscles!).

what do you think?

xxoo.