Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place. -Zora Neale Hurston
Her words are a warm glow of truth near some far off dark and vulnerable place inside myself. I am exposed. I have been in hiding. The world can be so damn ugly and unsafe. It is easy to forget, the one thing worth crawling out of the darkness for.
I have, reluctantly crawled out from…
Someplace.
Blindly stumbling along the way, depraved, afraid, alone. Even when we are surrounded by people, we can still be alone and stumbling.
Into the light of love.
Zora Neale Hurston, in a single sentence, reminds us to reach towards love. Reminds us love is worth leaving the comfort of our hiding place. This week, LOVE. TRULY. MADLY. DEEPLY. Start with yourself. Spend this week, completely silencing your inner critic. Spend it showering yourself with words of tender love and care.
LOVE. Openly and generously, especially and most importantly those who are part of your village. Tell your sister-friends how much they mean to you. Reach out to your community, far and wide to love them. LOVE wildly and unapologetically yourself and the ones close to you. Bring them from their hiding places and into the light of love.
Open your own dark space up to the light and breath.
This type of intimacy feels scary. We portray outward expressions of love as “weak” and any sign of weakness is forbidden. Intimacy, outside of a romantic context, is practically unheard of. Being kind, is so often mistook as being a push over, there’s a saying dedicated to ensuring you don’t forget kindness has nothing to do with my strength of will.
We starve ourselves of love. We think love has to be a struggle. We think we need to constantly prove we are worthy of love, happiness, security. I promise you, it’s owed us.
Emotional and mental wellness is as critical to our total well being as physical health. Giving and receiving love is good for us. If you are comfortable, give out some consensual hugs. If hugs make you uncomfortable, give away a compliment, or a smile.
Be love and be loved this week Brown girls! You matter. You take up important space in the universe and if not a single person has told you yet – You are loved. 
Brown Girls Out Loud 