For Those Waiting, Experiencing Unrequited Love, and Feeling Like They've Wasted Time...

For the waiting:
It is taking everything within you to keep waiting, so let this is the miracle you come to know: this desert journey has made you weary but your heart can still be slouched toward hope. You can know peace without knowing what comes next. You can trust that in the waiting, everything connects. Today is not in vain. And you will grow and you will change in beautiful, meaningful ways.

Unrequited love:
May you never empty yourself in hopes that someday, the one you want to be close to will finally wake up and see the depths of you. May you never settle for crumbs of connection to serve as an illusion of intimacy, or to avoid rejection. May you never tell yourself that you must become more interesting, successful, beautiful, or creative so that you will finally be enough. May you learn to trust you are free to let this go, and still know love.

When you feel like you've wasted time:
You haven't wasted time when things don't work out. Yes, time has passed, and you can't get it back, but now, everything that happened taught you: you are worth so much more than that. You have started to see that even though letting go was one of the hardest things you have ever had to do, now, you can focus on the path before you. Now, you can now take deep breaths knowing that the mere fact that you're here means your story isn't over yet.

Today looks different from what you planned a year ago, and this is also true: through every change, now you know, the morning sun still shines. The moon still illuminates the evening sky. And every day, you are starting to see: love is still boundless and so much greater than you imagined it to be. You've had to say goodbye to so many things, and yet, here you are, still finding peace. Still pursuing growth and wisdom, as you become who you were meant to be.

- MHN

Series photo credit: @vincentiusolomon, @elisepetrovich, @andyjh07, @mischievous_penguins(discovered via @unsplash)