If you haven’t heard of her, Glennon Doyle is an author and an activist.

Her blog, Momastery, and her books, Carry On, Warrior and Love Warrior, have been widely read and have earned her a loyal international following.

And for good reason.

Glennon Doyle is brutally honest and heartbreakingly real in ways that few public figures are. She has been open about her struggles with alcoholism, the infidelity within her previous marriage, parenting, and her relationship with Abby Wambach.

She reminds us that pain and struggle are natural components of living a human life. They aren’t plagues to be avoided, but necessary aspects of living fully, vulnerably, and healthily.

~

1. “Kind people are brave people. Brave is not something you should wait to feel. Brave is a decision. It is a decision that compassion is more important than fear, than fitting in, than following the crowd.”

2. “Just do the next right thing one thing at a time. That’ll take you all the way home.”

3. “You are not supposed to be happy all the time. Life hurts and it’s hard. Not because you’re doing it wrong, but because it hurts for everybody. Don’t avoid the pain. You need it. It’s meant for you. Be still with it, let it come, let it go, let it leave you with the fuel you’ll burn to get your work done on this earth.”

4. “What you don’t know, you’re not supposed to know yet.”

5. “Grief is love’s souvenir. It’s our proof that we once loved. Grief is the receipt we wave in the air that says to the world: Look! Love was once mine. I love well. Here is my proof that I paid the price.”

6. “Reading is my inhale and writing is my exhale.”

7. “The only meaningful thing we can offer one another is love. Not advice, not questions about our choices, not suggestions for the future, just love.”

8. “No woman on earth doesn’t give a f*ck—no woman is that cool—she’s just hidden her fire. Likely, it’s burning her up.”

9. “People who need help sometimes look a lot like people who don’t need help.”

10. “The sun shows up every morning, no matter how bad you’ve been the night before. It shines without judgment. It never withholds. It warms the sinners, the saints, the druggies, the cheerleaders—the saved and the heathens alike. You can hide from the sun, but it won’t take you personally. It’ll never, ever punish you for hiding. You can stay in the dark for years or decades, and when you finally step outside, it’ll be there.”

11. “It’s okay to feel too much and know too little.”

~