150: New Here

Some nights it takes

an intentional choice

to stand in a crowded room

full of strangers

and decide

that you’re not lonely.

Actually,

the feeling in your gut

is not grief

or fear,

which is what your body

feeds you first.

Instead,

you tell yourself-

each stranger in this room

is an invitation.

So you shake hands

and you introduce yourself

and you choose to believe that one day

you will walk into this room

and not feel so alone.

And you do all of this on repeat

and you just don’t stop.

This is the bravery I am learning something of.

Some nights, it takes an intentional choice.