To My Queer and Trans Kin...
A poetry love letter & a reminder to myself as much as you
To my queer and trans kin,
Remember to rest.
We have been fighting so much for so long.
Rest is as essential to activism as protesting, direct action, and fundraising.
Rest is not giving up, but recharging.
Rest is self care.
Rest is community care.
Rest.
Make yourself a hot beverage, your favourite.
Spend some time with a beloved fur-child.
Stretch out in a patch of sun and let it soak into your belly.
Listen to a song that never fails to uplift your spirit or call you to dance.
Exchange the silliest, most absurd memes with members of your chosen family.
Take care of yourself.
Get outside somewhere beautiful—a park, a path along a river, a place where you can watch birds and listen to the season.
Get a comfort read, a book that is as much a friend as anyone in your chosen family, and curl up with it for an hour or two or the whole day.
Get out your favourite recipe for your favourite treat, put on an apron and get to making yourself something nourishing for body and soul.
Make time for stillness.
Lay down on your bed, your most comfy couch, on a nest of cushions, on a chaise lounge on the deck in full bright sun, on the extra plush rug with the softest surface, or next to a fireplace, and take a nap.
Lay down with your partner, lover, spouse, kin, chosen sibling, bestie, and have a solid cuddle.
Lay down next to the warm body of a small animal who chooses you.
Lay down and just be.
Remember to feel what you feel.
Feel your heart breaking open.
Feel your lungs wanting to scream.
Feel your tears tracking down your cheeks.
Feel how you are alive, alive, alive.
And know I am grateful that you are.
You are sacred.
Remember you are a precious child of the universe.
You are a beautiful, magical being.
You are opportunity and difference and possibility and potential.
You belong to the community of gender rebels and sexual deviants.
You belong to a lineage of fierce protectors and divine lovers.
You belong to a chosen family.
You belong.
And you deserve to rest.
💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
Thank you.