Tag / nostalgia

by girlwithlandline

GIRL SPEAKS: comfort shows (one tree hill)

theres a scientific study somewhere out there that says those with anxiety (or trauma) rewatch tv shows or films, reread the same books to help ground themselves, an escape from all those complex emotions they hold within. its the structure, the predictability and the consistency of it all.

the sameness – and i understand, the nostalgia for the “feel good” emotions that i so desperately lack but so desperately need.

“one tree hill” might be my comfort show (in fact im certain that it is), for all the times ive returned to the same characters and plot just to soak in the security this show provides, the clarity it gives for when i need it the most. i rely on that show, in times of hardships where i seek answers to the complications life throws at us, in times where i feel lost and insecure, uncertain of my world and lack of faith in myself.

to me, “one tree hill” represents a strength and persistence in going after your dreams, lessons ive hoped to engrain in my own life. it epitomizes the importance of communication, something ive been hoping my boyfriend picks up from this show as i go through my fifth rewatch (its his first time and sharing this part of my life with him is crucial for me).

to me, “one tree hill” symbolizes the ups and downs ive had to face (after all, it has been the show thats brought me to where i am today), and has been the guiding light as we confront loss, breakups, and growing up itself.

its an icon of the generation i grew up in, and time-and-time again, we return to the same habits, familiar plot lines and characters and even though its all make-believe, the scenes you know like the back of your hand.

this year, i dressed up as brooke, in a royal blue juicy tracksuit and blue and white pom poms with a very “one tree hill” meets “euphoria” makeup look i experimented with myself.

and to me, its more than a halloween costume. she represents resilience, something ive needed this year as ive bounced back from loss and depression, my own brain fighting against me and causing my inner turmoil. and like me, in the early seasons she didnt believe in herself either so maybe my halloween costume can symbolize my healing and my transformation, the transition for me to stop it with the self-doubt and focus on doing what i love while being shamelessly and unapologetically myself.

so in the wise words of brooke davis, “you think you know me, but you dont. and that means you dont know what i can do.”

it might be just a teen drama but its guided me through the tricky nooks and crannies of life, and for that im grateful.

GFY (and happy halloween), fleur

by girlwithlandline

GIRL SPEAKS: halloween weekend

and as halloween weekend approaches, we remember those we lost and we cherish the memories that this weekend represents, the memories that live in our hearts for we can never get those moments back.

i love halloween – ive always loved the dressing up part, pretending to be someone or something that im not, even if its only for one night. an escape – and this year is no different.

but most people dont know what this weekend represents, the reasons we celebrate and the reasons we mourn. maybe its because they never asked, maybe its because i never offered. then again, its not my job to lay out my traumas and losses, the little things that make the last weekend of october special with all the moments i hold onto.

im not compromising this weekend. it means too much to me. ive lost too much already.

this weekend is for them – i wouldnt be doing justice to the friends that are no longer on this planet if i were to blindly comply with someone elses agenda because i felt obligated to spinelessly play along. they wouldnt want this for me, and neither do i.

i am not fucking compromising.

maybe halloween weekend had always been significant to me in some way or another: i remember making a fuss over going to knotts scary farm in 2016 with some guy i had met on tinder, the first halloween weekend since my high school friend had passed away. i had applied more significance to this tinder boy than he was worth – maybe it was the childish grin he had, that easygoing personality, these traits he shared with my friend, these traits i sought after after my friends death.

i was trying so desperately to recreate a past that is long gone. and i chase that nostalgia shamelessly, even if it only lasts for a fleeting second (i did back in 2016 and ill do that now, seven years later).

maybe this weekend was a sign, being stuck in buena park for an hour and a half after lunch while waiting for aaa to jump my boyfriends car battery, a panoramic view of knotts in my direct vision, these little reminders of him (not the tinder boy, the high school friend ive put on a pedestal for over a decade even after his death). maybe it was a moment of clarity, of a past that i had tried to reclaim in his name and memory.

so no, i wont fucking go to that halloween event with that clingy coworker who cant fucking read the room to save her life. there is no point in spending time with someone i already have a low tolerance for on a typical in-office work day. we dont share the same pain no matter how hard she tries to relate and i wouldnt expect her to understand anyway.

this weekend is for celebration, a tribute or ritual of some sort, maybe healing too as we remember that those who have left arent really gone because theyll still with us.

theyll always be with us, even if theyre on the other side.

no one can take the memories. i dont owe anyone my time, especially not this weekend.

another friend passed away this past april and i cant help but think about how a year ago on this weekend was the last time we saw him. i dont think anyone thinks about how its the last time theyll see someone ever until after-the-fact, the finale.

“last” – fuck, i hate that word, the implication of an ending.

the last event we had all gone to was a mutual friends halloween party, ending the night with lines of coke and “insecure” playing on the tv as we sat in pure darkness at 4 am, the glow from the tv illuminating our living room.

same location, same weekend, but one less soul. but were going to make the best of it, reflecting on the past while fighting the future head on, to keep from drowning from the burden of it all – “theres only life.”

itd be a shame if i didnt live life the way i want to, with the people i actually give a shit about.

im not fucking compromising this weekend. its my life, my memories, my priorities. this is what matters to me.

GFY, fleur

by girlwithlandline

GIRL SPEAKS: 7 years later

i remember when i had first spoken to you – september 18, 2010; a date thats been engrained in my memory, the password to my iphone for all thats worth.

i was 19 when you died (it still feels so strange saying that you had died – even more bizarre that its been over 7 years since then and the words still sting). when i first learned that you had passed away, it was like a sucker punch to the gut.

you were one of the strongest people i knew, and i envied you for your confidence, boldness throughout our friendship.

when did the world dull that inner radiance you wore so well?

im sorry i never tried harder to keep in touch. im still shitty at keeping in touch (too many thoughts for my little brain to process).

i still think about you. a few days ago when i was back in my parents house, back in my childhood bedroom, i went through my sophomore yearbook.

your message was the first one i saw – i mean, it was inevitable since you wrote on the cover, your note scribbled in purple sharpie, mostly written in german with a hint to use google translate. i never translated your message and maybe that was a good thing. maybe knowing what you had actually said would make it lose its magic, the mystery of it all.

in english, you had written that you love and will miss me (you were going to boarding school the following year).

im sorry i never told you how much you mean to me. its always been second nature to pretend i care less than i genuinely did (i guess i still do this – a defense mechanism and all?).

im sorry, for not telling you that i give a shit about you, that you matter. the “i love yous” mean nothing if youre not in this orbit anymore.

if i say it now, could you hear me?

and i wonder what youd think of me today, if youre currently looking down on me from wherever you are in the afterlife.

are you disappointed, are you proud?

this is my first time writing about (to) you in years. to be fair, i had a writing hiatus as i found more comfort in drugs, intoxication and recklessness to drown out the sorrows, the guilt and the regret.

i wonder if you know about all the external chaos in my life (and the internal chaos that i hold privately).

i never wanted to be, the person you see,

but thank you.

thank you for giving me the voice i needed to find so badly when i met you at 15, the boldness i held because of you (up until my 2019 breakdown). im trying to find it again.

can you help me?

i still think about you, even seven years later.

GFY, fleur

by girlwithlandline

GIRL SPEAKS: selective mutism

i can pin point when it all started, when i just stopped talking, opting to bottle every emotion i had and letting the heaviness (the burden of carrying this weight) rot me from the insides. it was memorial day weekend of 2019, my return home after graduating from college and learning to navigate (or at least trying to) a long-distance relationship with my boyfriend after living with him for months.

i hate change. maybe thats obvious at this point. too much change, and i crack completely (orchid children or whatever they call it, the fragile ones prone to breaking).

i hated living in houston for pretty much the entire time that i was there for college, retreating back to my hometown the second i finished my last in-person final, spirit flights purchased on impulse out of the need to be home.

you changed that. my last year in houston was by far my favorite, and its all thanks to you. i owe you for that, for making the best year of my houston/college experience, for being part of my story; i cherish those days when things between us were just easy, light and i just really fucking loved you.

i was happy. maybe the happiest id ever been.

i dont even know if im capable of that happiness anymore.

and on my final year, i found myself struggling to let go of that dirty, old houston apartment, even though the apartment has smelled like cat piss since we moved in and no amount of baking soda or professional cleaners and products had been able to successfully eliminate the atrocious scent. but that apartments important, monumental; because thats where we began, thats where our story started.

sometimes i wonder if those days are gone for good, that our lives together will ever feel as pivotal as it was back then and all i needed was you. and i wonder if we hold on to these memories too tightly, and were just lying to ourselves to try to make “us” work.

what changed between us? did we already reach our peak, and all thats destined is the inevitable fall?

i need clarity, so fucking badly (ive even reached out to my psychic, since all her predictions have come to pass and the universe refuses to offer me a sign).

and i cant stop thinking about when things went south with us, why i cant stop snapping at you lately, what happened between us to make conversations more scarce to the point of just pure silence. i cant stop being a bitch to you and i know im going to push you away, and maybe i already have.

i miss “us,” the old “us,” and i mourn that loss everyday as i continue to give you the silent treatment, plotting my escape to my parents house just for the sake of running away.

im shutting you out – i know i am. i just cant help it, imagining the worst case scenarios, that youll leave me because i dont think i make you happy.

maybe theres still a part of me that resents you for putting me through a long-distance relationship in the first place (through no fault of your own). youre here now; physically, i guess i am too but mentally, ive been checked out, engulfed in my own world, consuming thoughts.

you werent there when i needed you the most and maybe theres a part of me thats unable to forgive you for that. you werent there that night my 16 year-old maltese passed away, when i received that frenzied phone call from my parents while out to dinner with our friends. they said he wasnt able to hold his head up, and doesnt seem to be lucid, that were losing him.

you werent there when my mom told me my nanny/my third grandmother died due to surgery complications when i was in my last semester of college. my parents never fucking told me when it happened. conveniently my mom had to tell me this immediately after my dogs passing (great timing, mother).

it signaled an end of an era – the end of college, the end of childhood itself with the combined losses of my dog and my nanny, someone i had gone to visit each time i returned. the last time i saw her, i had a breakdown. maybe even then, i knew i would never see her again.

too much change, too many endings – so i stopped talking. i shut the world off, closing the blinds and surrounding myself with my thoughts. i kept (keep) everyone at a distance, and the shift was palpable.

these days it seems like anger is my primary reaction to everything, and i cant seem to find a balance in any aspect of my life; not with my boyfriend, not with my friends, not within myself.

“im gonna tell you how it is, dont give a shit about how you feel.”

im trying to find my voice again, to have the ownership and power of my own words. i need to be in control of my life again.

“look me right inside my eyes and you tell me the truth.”

what exactly do you even see anymore?

emptiness and sadness built on resentment, selective mutism, and the refusal to forgive, but maybe a slight glimmer of hope (the light at the end of the tunnel). thats what youll see.

GFY, fleur

by girlwithlandline

GIRL SPEAKS: girl who spins the thread into gold

i admit that im wrong about going unnoticed, that everyone around me is just so blinded by their own lives that mine is put on the backburner. maybe it just took some triggering, toxic commentary from peripheral friends to finally push me off the edge, the courage to confront my qualms and manifest my own reality. like mount vesuvius, i finally blew the fuck up, at those who ive felt wronged by in the past, the present; at innocent bystanders that stand witness to my breakdown (via text).

as they say (cliche as fuck, i know) – a few bad apples can ruin the whole batch.

i dont hate my friends (at least not my core group). i dont think i ever can. yes, i still have qualms regarding certain people but maybe this is the sign ive been looking for, the affirmation i needed all along. maybe i just wanted to put my pain on display, tattooed on my forehead for all to see (and feel pity for, we all love some self-pity).

what i say fucking matters. and maybe it just took for me no longer giving a shit, saying the words ive held in my heart, spilled out like word vomit onto my site – my safe space – to realize that.

i dont need to be a people pleaser; i used to have my voice. i just need to find it again.

there was a palpable shift, and theres validation in knowing im not the only one who felt it, recognized it. ive been detached from the world (for quite some time now).

its not all in my head.

and i didnt used to be like this – at least not the version of me that i didnt not like. today, my friend had pointed out how i used to be loud; i was bold, unafraid to speak my mind. but at some point, i lost myself – i lost my voice, my personality, everything that ive fucking prided myself in.

and one day, the thoughts inside my head became too much to tolerate, too much loss, tragedy, and the added layer of isolation – i just crumbled.

i stopped letting people in, even those who have helped me during my darkest days (everyone except my twin, of course – she knows everything there is to know about me).

i stopped talking, letting the dark emotions engulf me, selective mutism, my vow of silence or whatever. in a way, ive stopped trying, overwhelmed by the anxiety of the world and how it orbits, the people that spin with it as i stand completely still.

i tell stories of the days when my life had shine and allure – stories of the degenerates i had surrounded myself with (the fucked up and amusement), twisted tinder dates that had shaped me into who i am, someone who was definitely entertaining and fun, but also toxic. nothing is meant to last forever, not them and not me – but at least the stories will, and they are mine to keep.

im still lost – just a shell of who i used to be, letting my personality fade away with every word unspoken, every thought or negative comment festering in my brain, making it rot away.

but once, i was one one who spun the thread into gold, and one day, ill be that person again. and the stories i create – theyll be unmatched, a spectacle thatll have its own personality and voice too.

GFY, fleur

by girlwithlandline

GIRL WITH SHORT HAIR: a creature-of-habit dreads change

when i was five, i received underwear as a birthday present, a gift from my then-best friend’s mom. she had assumed my family was so completely broke, unable to afford any clothing for me other than the only jeans she ever saw me in, worn out and tattered, covered with patches added weekly to cover the holes, and the two sweatshirts i wore interchangeably, for year’s on end.

it was an act of charity.

at twenty-five, i find bittersweet humor in that moment — five year-old me with straight bangs, wearing a lime green tee with the little mermaid embroidered onto it, eagerly shredding the pink wrapping paper to reveal a three-set of powderpuff girls underwear.

at five years-old, i was unaware and oblivious of how others perceived me. i didn’t give a shit what you thought about me — words like self-conscious and insecure didn’t resonate. i was just happy to exist in my own brain space, a place where i played pretend and based my identity around whichever character i fixated on.

i was obsessed with disney’s a bug’s life, a phase in my childhood where my entire life was dictated by the film — my mother fondly recalls me rejecting my real name to my kindergarten teacher and insisting on going by the name of flik. donning either the forest green crewneck with a graphic of flik’s face or the pink fleece with an embroidering of atta, i embodied my infatuation.

so maybe things haven’t changed that much since i was a kid — sure, my world doesn’t revolve around a bug’s life anymore but old habits die hard and sometimes, the only thing that keeps me from forgetting the past is resisting the change that evolves over time.

time-and-time again, i still find myself refusing to try anything new. theres a comfort that comes with consistency, the word “change” forbidden and overwhelming for all the unknowns it can bring. its fear of the unknown, really.

girl who orders the same dishes each and every time we dine out (if girl even eats – thanks, adderall); girl who cant admit to herself that her current living situation with three (previously, four) roommates cant last forever because she cant stand the idea of being alone; girl whos kept the unbrushed and messy ombre hair for years just because one of her infatuations said he loved it.

i lopped off my hair in september 2020, and it was a change that terrified me. its the letting go, the tidal wave of emotions, the new starts and the endings – truly, the end of an era. a time for new beginnings and moving on from my past self, my identity.

so maybe thats what it comes down to – loss of identity. can you even lose your identity if you dont know who the fuck you are?

sometimes, im certain of who i am – a mid-grade hoarder, who cant stand the thought of my belongings being (feeling) lost or seeing food tossed from the fridge even if i dont really eat; loud typer at work with my headset volume turned to 100 to block out the noise, both in my head and in the outside world; lover of youngboy and someone whos mood is determined for the rest of the day by a song; a girl with heightened emotions and the occasional outbursts and a great fear of rejection or being disliked.

the occasional people pleaser, but also someone whos not afraid to cuss you out and threaten you with her plastic “brass knuckles” cat keychain when crossed or spoken to in the wrong way. and i know i anger people too. i do it on purpose, poking the bear and being a pain in the ass (for fun).

for someone who wants people to like her, i sure have a way of pushing peoples buttons and burning bridges, caution tape wrapped around dead friendships because i always leave first (before i am left). i make plans i never intended on keeping in the first place, i cancel last minute and i dont reply for weeks (or maybe ever).

most days, i have no fucking idea who i am, what my purpose in this lifetime is other than to play karma and be the vengeance that other people deserve (and asked for).

i dont know who the fuck i am. but i have short hair now, permed silky smooth, a 180 to how my hair was previously, a cleanse of my past. and i wish cutting my hair (the thing i dreaded the most as a kid), suddenly gave me a better understanding of who i am and why im here.

and maybe im still learning to let go, traumas hidden in the shadows as i continue to run from them, the lessons learned never truly sinking in. maybe ill never be ready to let go, because moving on from the past traumas threaten my fragile identity as it stands.

so maybe thats who i am – girl afraid of the future, but also afraid of the past, just passing the days by lying to herself (and others) while simmering internally with anger.

GFY, fleur

by girlwithlandline

GIRL WITH BLOG: my intention was never for this to be depressing

is the glass half empty or half full?

glass half empty (10000%).

maybe i expect the worst of everything. i mean, the worlds a fucking shitshow. im a mess and i cant clean myself up. i cannot accept reality yet im angry at this world, the higher powers or whatever karmic universe that controls us like puppets from the beyond.

and this was never my intention: a repeat of my tumblr days, my continued qualms with life itself. this was supposed to be fun – about the memories i want to keep.

“i wanna paint down my memories, so i dont forget.”

and ive forgotten so much – scatterbrained, empty-minded and stumbling my way through. memories are all thats left and im ashamed and terrified of all that ive forgotten, moments that meant something but i was too black-out to recall.

“the darkness doesnt have any answers.”

and thats what it call comes down to – the vulnerability, the pain, the heaviness. looking for answers in the wrong places, my darkness.

the feeling that the world owes me for what its taken, whats lost. anger, geared at anyone who dares step into my war path. i hate. and i keep hating people, circumstances, the way life plays out. i hate the higher powers who clearly havent given a flying fuck, watching us scramble, tittering to each other as we suffer.

“what happened to us?”

in my world, its so fucking black and white. tiptoeing that fine line between love and hate, walking on thin ice thats crackling with every step. instability? clarity? who the fuck knows.

im taking my anger out on all the wrong people – but theres just so much to be livid about. and if there was a blinking red *SOS* button in my brain to turn it all off – the “stop using others as a human punching bag”, the guilt of brainfog and lack of memory, tragedy.

and in this world, are we just infatuated by the idea of love or is it remotely possible to be in love (if we dare admit it)? is it real love? or love due to convenience?

why is it so hard for me to admit love or show that i care?

i dont know. i guess im still trying to find the answers to that one.

and lastly, “people always leave.”

and it was never my intention to hurt those i love the most.

but its easier to be the one leaving. its easier to give someone reasons to leave you, self-sabotage to barricade the lonely heart, the one who plays the mindgames and tests the other as vulnerability lingers above me – the enemy, like a black cloud.

it was never my intention, my 2013 angsty tumblr days (take two).

and im not really sure what to do anymore. maybe were all broken, and we just learn to deal – to function – as if we were shattered pieces of a porcelain doll, precariously pasted back together with an elmers gluestick. maybe were all hot fucking messes who cover it up with fake smalltalk, cheap facades to hide who we really are underneath the mask, the things weve mourned, the shit life has put us through, the truths and realities we want to bury.

my intention for this blog was so i could remember – the good and the bad, cherished moments and moments where i need a safe space to empty out my thoughts.

im just trying to find the healing in all of this – in writing, in music, in art. to have faith in people, and not thinking the worst in everybody right off the bat.

im just trying.

and thats probably all i can ask for right now.

GFY, fleur

by girlwithlandline

GIRL WITH TWO BRAINCELLS: AN INTOXICATED AND POINTLESS TRAIN OF THOUGHT

*** TRIGGER WARNING: substances ***

if i missed any, LMK

im not really sure why im doing this to be honest (clearly i have not a single fucking clue why im even writing this at 4 am; its really time for me to channel in on the peak of my tumblr days and write more). maybe its my therapists advice, finally sinking into my thick skull that its time to log/journal, let go of pent-up emotions through actually doing something productive in understanding my triggers and spite. maybe its the dramatic, soapy spanish shows ive been binge watching on netflix that have the the sudden craving to be poetic.

but im not poetic (not to the least bit). this whole post probably wont make any sense, just stream-of-consciousness bullshit from an intoxicated human being. and probably no one will care, and i probably wont remember this in the morning (so i might not care either).

so today i went to a part of the city i havent really gone to since i moved out from the area. being in the vicinity, my anxiety has always skyrocketed; its like second nature.

“im literally on my knees begging to the higher powers that i do not run into adam*.”

in the past, ive definitely gone to that same area with adam, and its close to his house too. adam probably despises me at this point. it doesnt help knowing his last social media post was him holding two threatening, gigantic rifles aimed straight at the camera. im not sure how he took it when i suddenly decided to drop off the face of the earth, cut all communications with him. and when he started using different numbers to try to contact me, i had a full-on breakdown over this whole shitshow, during office hours in my work restroom.

but it wasnt always like that – there were better memories with adam, and he represents an actually *fun* past time. and im grateful for that, the recklessness and the memories that i wouldnt have the nerve to do on my own. and i was someone he’d confide in, sacrifice his trust to.

i was happy to pretend to be someone else for a while, and surrounded by a bunch of strangers who automatically think im smart because i graduated from college, i encouraged the ego feed. and i played into the partying, despite my true friends’ warnings about him.

now?

ultimately, i feel guilt. guilt i had to let him down, that i had to pick a side in the end of the day, and the final decision was not him. im still sorry.

i used to be the type of person whod write everything down, literally day of the event’s happening. but this one, im still processing but just needed to get off my chest a little bit. this will probably be brought up again at some point, but for now, im not ready.

ok, rant done and im done.

GFY, fleur

*name changed for privacy reasons 🙂