The Tender things we carry..
There are parts of us we don’t talk about out loud.
The tender things.
The things we tuck under our confidence, our routines, our laughter, our strength.
Not because we’re ashamed of who we are but because life has handed us chapters we never asked to hold.
Some people carry a diagnosis.
Some carry heartbreak.
Some carry childhood wounds.
Some carry fear, trauma, chronic illness, anxiety, or the memory of a moment that changed everything.
And so many of us walk through life thinking we’re the only ones with something “too heavy,” “too complicated,” or “too hard to explain.”
But the truth is this:
Most people are carrying something tender.
Something they didn’t choose.
Something they’ve survived.
Something they’ve learned to live with quietly, gracefully, bravely.
We think these tender places make us unlovable —
when really, they’re the places that have stretched us into deeper versions of ourselves.
They’ve taught us compassion, softness, truth, resilience.
They’ve expanded our capacity for love
I’m learning that my tender parts don’t disqualify me from being chosen.
They don’t make me less deserving.
They don’t take away my worth.
They simply make me human.
There is nothing weak about having a story.
There is nothing shameful about having lived through something.
And there is nothing wrong with wanting someone to see you — the whole you — and still choose to stay.
I used to think love belonged to people with simpler stories.
People who never had to explain what life handed them.
People without disclosures, without hesitation, without fear.
But the older I get, the more I understand:
love doesn’t seek perfection.
It seeks presence.
Honesty.
Kindness.
Courage.
Two people willing to hold each other’s truths without flinching.
So maybe the real miracle isn’t being chosen despite the tender things —
it’s allowing yourself to believe you’re worthy of love with them.
Maybe that’s what healing is:
not erasing the hard parts,
but looking at them and saying quietly,
“This is a part of my story… and I am still whole.”
💜Bee
