If We Need To Be Mad To Live Our Lives, Call Me Crazy, Baby

We exist in a world that is an endless sea of information, and sometimes it can feel like we are drowning. We are getting burnt by the relentless exposure to confusion, contraction, lies, instability and inauthenticity.

Maybe we didn’t take the time to protect ourselves. We got sloppy, we believed those who said they’d protect us and now we’re exposed.

They missed a few spots. We believed their chaos as our own. We got pulled in all directions and were swept away.

Our skin is now itchy from the version of ourselves we are yearning to bust out of. We are craving to shed what no longer serves us.

But it hurts. We feel uncertain. We are changing. We can no longer see where we have been, and don’t exactly know where we are heading.

We know we must let go of whatever is holding us back, to find the key that unlocks the anchor which is chained to our ankles so we can come up for air, so we can get home, to rejuvenate the wounds, to make space for the caring, nurturing, stable, and realise what we are truly capable of.

Our minds are curdling when the simplest of questions, a fleeting ‘how are you?’ is so complicated and layered and contradictory it’s making our head spin, and it feels effortful, like we are swimming crosscurrent just to muster up the courage to smile through gritted teeth and say ‘great thanks! and you!?’

We see the apathy in their eyes. The colour drained out of the cheeks. The hardening of the hearts of those who chose the path of least resistance, giving into submission that it cannot be any other way.

It feels mad to want to keep trying.

How bizarre that trying is an act of rebellion

Caring for ourselves and those we love is characterised as an act of courage.

Being devoted to passion and purpose and peace and poise is an act of defiance.

If we need to be mad to live our lives, call me crazy, baby.

So, is madness the method?

Perhaps we can make sacred promises to ourselves and those who matter to do whatever it takes to find the beauty in our rituals, routines, and rhythms with each other.

Let’s have some fun while it is burning all around us, let’s take the world’s hand and go for a dance.

Perhaps we will be stubborn in our commitment to growth, exploration, curiosity and kindness.

Let’s shatter assumptions and protections and fears and worries.

Maybe it is insane to focus on the foundations and fundamentals that make us feel held and stable when the wind tries to knock us over.

Maybe it’s time to finally shine.

Maybe we can finally believe it is all possible and the tools needed for joy and fulfilment have been in the palm of our hands this whole time.

Can we make a promise to keep trying, desiring, building, exploring and believing?

We must relish in the madness to create space for a love of life, and stay brave, knowing the easier option is to passively submit to being swept back to a life that is not right.

This is a short love story to all the things we cannot hold but hold us. To the things that make us feel whole.

To the beautiful, abundant, thoughtful life we deserve.

With love,

Rosie xo

This piece was written for Fluff in collaboration with The Ritual by KIC, currently discussing the theme: “Method in the Madness.”

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