Have you ever noticed that, without really meaning to, you get a little tidbit, a phrase, a face expression that you really needed? As if by some magical force – you were meant to be right where you are, having that exact conversation, seeing just the sight that you needed? This has happened to me a lot lately and I can confidently say, I’m not mad about it.

As the song goes, breaking up is hard to do. That Neil goes on to say kama kama dowm doobie do dowm dowm and I’m still figuring that part out but the man has a point.

In all of the doubting and second-guessing that comes with feeling confident in a huge, life-changing decision, I have found a bit of solace in tiny affirmations. They have come unknowingly from the people I’ve had even the briefest most casual encounters with. A friend of a friend who shares his pain in moving out from his shared apartment with his ex. My friend who lovingly looks at his niece and says “she stole my heart the day she was born” and refuses to turn up the 90s hip hop music until she’s finished her rounds of hugs and closed the door. It’s sharing a real from-the-belly, side-stitching laugh with girlfriends.

Then, to the point of tears, hand pressed against a wall, gasping for air in between another fit of laughter, you may realize that everything you’ve ever needed is already within you.