I discovered Robert M. Drake on Facebook a few years ago.
For me, it was easy to recognize his posts. He used a typewriter font on a gray background, and his words were all lowercase. His snippets of work looked raw and sincere. Most importantly, they appeared to be true.
His words are deep, accessible, and legitimate. I don’t think we could write about anything like this unless we’re really experiencing and feeling it. Drake feels it all. He gets into the bottom of his heart and removes all the words that are stuck in ours.
I can’t even count the nights I felt down, reached for my phone, and opened Drake’s Facebook page to read his work. His words make me feel validated and more in touch with my emotions. They are so simple, yet they translate the most complicated situations.
Personally, the agony of letting go and accepting change has always been my most complicated situation. It hasn’t been easy for me to oscillate between what is and what is yet to change. What is present and what is yet to be absent. What is here and what is yet to be there.
Relinquishing moments, people, animals, places, memories, and ideas is no easy task for anyone. But authors like Drake cast upon us rays of hope and comfort. They give meaning to our emotions and paint the future for us with ideas we might not want to hear or tolerate. They lay bare the truth—untainted and unmistakable.
If you’re ready to hear the truth, here’s Drake laying it out for us:
“You don’t know what you’re made of until you’re forced to let go of someone you love.”
“We must always welcome the end of all things. For sometimes, knowing nothing lasts forever, is the only way we can learn to fall in love with all the moments and all the people that are meant to take our breath away.”
“Maybe we feel empty because we leave pieces of ourselves in everything we used to love.”
“You have to forgive yourself sometimes. Accept your scars for what they are and forgive the people who have hurt you. Maybe that is how you learn to breathe and walk again. Maybe that is how you heal from the past. Maybe that is how you move on.”
“One day, you will realize how some people are not meant to be yours. One day, you will have to move on, and sometimes the most important thing to do in the world is to let go.”
“You don’t know heartbreak. Until you lose someone you were willing to change for.”
“You’re meant to hurt that hard. That deeply. Remember, the same way you love will be the same way you let go. The goal is to be brave enough to face the two. To be strong enough to love when you have to love. And let go when you must let go.”
“Getting over someone is hard but I promise you the outcome is worth it. You’ll learn new things about yourself. Like how to let go, why to let go, and when to let go. You’ll develop new characteristics. New outcomes. New solutions to your problem. And believe me, the growth will be beautiful. I promise.”
“People change. And that’s just something you need to get used to.”
“If their absence brings you peace. And if your isolation brings you clarity. Then that says more about you than it does about them. Let them go. You are ready.”
~
AUTHOR: ELYANE YOUSSEF
IMAGE: RMDRK/INSTAGRAM
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