I have this bad habit of loving things I see potential in. This is a good quality for finding vintage clothing or a piece of furniture waiting to be sanded down to its better days and refinished to reflect its former glory.
It’s less helpful in relationships.
There is a person there who you see some shred of a dream in, and when it’s just enough to occasionally give you the sense that it could be real, you’re hooked and heading for heartbreak you can see from a mile away.
But that’s not what happened with you.
When you described what you wanted in a relationship, to be that person carrying their beloved to their mutual destination as they barreled through the night, it took my breath away – the first moment of many where I’ve been left speechless at your candor, your heart.
My dreams met their match in you, and they knew so quietly and certainly that they began to unfurl on the spot.
I see the soft places you’re still stinging, old wounds that never quite healed from the shoulds and woulds that, had they been, never would have brought you to me. My heart is fearful of being misled again, attempting to defend itself the way it used to that never worked anyway.
My only promise is this – that I will be gentle with those places and kiss them as they heal. That I won’t let myself harden to you. That I will let this hurt when it needs to so it can become what it must.
Awake in my empty bed at his ungodly hour, I hear the lonely whistle of the train echoing off of the west hills, and I think of your lovely words, calling to me through the night.
Recent + Relevant Posts:
The most valuable lesson I learned in 2023
Parts of this are probably going to come out wrong, but I hope you’ll bear with me as I suss this out. I think there’s something important here for more than just me. It’s me! Hi! I’m the problem, it’s me! The most valuable work lesson I learned this year? Not being so trigger-happy on…
a manifesto to improve the personal development space
Hi. I’m Dusti, a Fractional CMO and marketing strategist in the personal development space, and as a long-time service provider, I am an outspoken critic of the false promises, hypocrisy, and theft rampant in this multi-billion-dollar unregulated, and often harm-causing corner of the internet. Despite it all, I think there is good here – and…
With love from Colorado
Sitting at Corinne for brunch with my three beverages – orange juice for morning sickness, water for life, and coffee for my brain – I think I’ve finally adapted to the altitude and caught up on the lack of sleep. I’ve been in Denver since last Friday for The Failure Ball, seeing some of my…
Unexpected news
I’m still reeling from Wednesday. Making good on a campaign promise, Biden’s administration provided student loan relief to millions – including myself. As a recipient of Pell grants, meaning I was very poor when I went to college, $20,000 of my student loans were effectively wiped away with the stroke of a pen. I had…
Filed Under:
Dusti Arab, Fractional CMO
And the founder of the reinvention co, a marketing consultancy specializing in working with personality-driven companies with small teams.
Intense, fun, and relentlessly practical, Dusti understands the lives of small business owners are deeply intertwined with their businesses, and if their marketing is going to be sustainable, it can't get in the way of why they do what they do. (And honestly? It should be fun so they actually want to do it.)
She is the host of Referral Worthy, a podcast for small business owners ready to go from "best kept secret" to the go-to name in their niche.