Peace of mind can feel so far away, and so hard to attain, especially when it seems like everything is completely chaotic around us. And being told “that’s when you need it” is not particularly helpful. 

Unfortunately, the version of peace we often envision, the saccharine version of peace, feels so false. Smiling when we feel like crying, speaking softly when we want to scream, having to “calm down” when we have every reason to be furious. To me, it feels like I’m keeping the peace on the outside at the expense of my inner peace.

But having that inner peace means we can take a step back from the chaos and reach inside ourselves. Reconnect with ourselves. Reconnect with our joy. Reconnect with our calm. Remember who we are and why we are.

Developing that inner peace sometimes starts with letting go and accepting. Letting go of harmful self-talk. Letting go of unrealistic expectations of ourselves. Accepting that sometimes things fall apart just before they come together. Accepting that sometimes things fall apart, and don’t come together. 

And accepting our full selves, with the chaos and the joy and the love.