Recently, I have been discouraged by how hard life is sometimes. When I found this quote by Louise Erdrich about letting life break you, I began to rethink my views on life.
I know life can break me, and no one can protect me from it. Solitude will also break me, even though at times I may long for some solitude. I have to love. I have to feel. I have to be willing to risk my heart. I have to let life swallow me up.
I also like the image of just sitting under the apple tree and listening to the apples fall all around us. Sometimes when I feel hurt, betrayed, alone, broke, or when I feel like death has brushed ever so near to me, I long to sit under a tree somewhere or sit out on my front porch alone, taking in the cows grazing across the road or the donkeys rolling around in the dirt.
Letting life break me, letting solitude break me, risking my heart – it is why I am here on earth. I want to take in as much life as I can. I want to tell myself that I have tasted as much life as I could.
Let life break you… And experience as much life as you can!