It’s not often I get emotionally intimate on my blog, but earlier this week I came across a beautiful quote that I texted to my younger brother who has been going through a hard time.
He’s had a tough year; struggled with heartbreak from a girl he thought he was going to marry, emotional turbulence in trying to reestablish a relationship with our father, loneliness with living 5,000 kms from his Mum & sister (and any other family), an ongoing battle with substance addiction and recently a mugging & stabbing that left him close to death.
While my Mum and I try and support him as much as we can from our various parts of the country (I’m in Sydney and Mum’s in Emerald, QLD) there isn’t a huge amount we can do, other than emotionally support him, without him taking ownership of his actions and action for himself.
It’s not that I’m looking for sympathy, but it is emotionally straining and heartbreaking to see someone you love not live their best life
or up to their full potential.
This quote is something that really embodies the message I want to give to my brother. Someone who has a beautiful soul that is scarred by experience, but who needs to understand that although we are the sum of our experiences we don’t have to let those experiences define our path.
Like this:
Like Loading...
Published by thisismelly
Mel @thisismelly lives a life of adventure, gets lost in farmer’s markets, regularly indulges in movies, loves to whip up gourmet meals in the kitchen, swears that one day she will learn to speak French properly, adores candles and fresh flowers, married her high school sweetheart, visited 19 countries and counting, fears an apocalyptic rage-virus, regularly spoils her cavoodle Harley, loves walking along the harbour, is decorated with ink, muddles her right & left, seasonally switches between blonde and brunette, has soul-mates, favours painted nails & dangly earrings, always orders the 'plateau de fromages', is obsessed with British or Scandinavian crime fiction, detests creepy-crawlies & people who take too long to order coffee, gives terrible directions, makes up crazy dances for her devilishly handsome husband, believes in good, would always be dressed in Saint Laurent, Gucci & Chloe if she could, adores Tex-Mex & Japanese, loves the smell of rain & evening jasmine, may be addicted to Instagram&Pinterest, is always on the hunt for a really good macchiato, is James Taylor’s biggest fan, gets rowdy with tequila, dreams every night, takes pickles, jalapeños & dried fruit for movie snacks, would hate a world without French champagne, adores Pantone 1765, almost always wishes she was lying on the sand in the sun, is an inconsistent Paleo convert and although she is a hopeless Francophile she will forever be smitten with Sydney.
View more posts
Being a big sister (especially to brothers) is one of the most amazing yet challenging roles a person can play don’t you think? I’m sure you’re an amazing support to your brother, hope 2013 is a good one for him xxx
It is tough isnt it! Thanks for the encouragement! xx
That’s a beautiful quote. Does Jus read? Because I think Shantaram, the book I was reading in Byron might be a good one for him. It’s all about how a person who had really hard life experiences went down a bad path but then turned his life around. 900 pages of inspiration!
He does although Im not sure if he’d transition well from ‘special forces ops’ books to something with 900 pages!!! I was inspired by your idea though and just bought him ‘A million little pieces’ by James Frey from BookDepository which will send it directly to him!
Ahh nice one!
Beautiful quote and a great heartfelt post.
thanks JD 🙂
Sweet Mel.
You are such a compassionate heart!
Your being the best sis you know how and even if your brother can’t say thanks today , one day he will.
What a challenging situation and how hard to sit feeling helpless.
I will pray continually for strength within your brother and peace for the family.
I really appreciate your thoughts and prays Mich. I’m also hopeful for his future and know that I cant change it for him but I can be supportive. xx
As a younger sister, just know that even telephone support from my older sister & mum in hard times can make all the difference 🙂
I love that quote, I hope your brother can take courage from the words.
Thanks S. It’s always a little daunting to put your heart out there, but Im glad what I wrote makes sense to everyone else because then I know it’ll make sense to him….
What a lovely sister you are. And, I love the sentiment in the quote.
He is going through life lessons and soon he will be ok. I understand how you feel. We would do anything to take the pain from our love ones.
Beautiful quote. Though the circumstances are different, this resonates for me in relation to my sister. It’s tough, not being able to do it for them…
Sweetpea, you write so wisely and beautifully. It’s heartbreaking to watch someone you love go through something like this, but know that you are doing so much by being there emotionally and loving unconditionally, and this will make him into a stronger person. He will get to a point where he can sit back and look at it all with you beside him, and you’ll laugh or cry or both, and you will see that you have always been doing the right thing by just being there. Sending tonnes of love. And that quote couldn’t be more perfect. x x