Mano

“Anyone can say 'I love you', however so many other sayings carry more weight in a relationship:

“I understand what you went through because I went through it too.”

“I believe you and in you.”

“I see the pain you are going through and we will conquer this together.”

“I don’t want to change you. I just want to help you become the best version of yourself.”

“You matter to me, therefore I will be there for you always.”

"I will never keep things from you because you have my respect and friendship. If I find out someone is putting you down, I will stand up for you. ”

“Your character will always shine when I speak about you because to damage your name is to damage ours.”

“I will go to the ends of the earth to save you from yourself or others.”

“What you have to say is important to me because I see you’re hurting and that hurts me, so I am going to listen. Together we will solve this problem.”

“I don’t care about your past. That was yesterday. Today, we are going to start over because people make mistakes, but they don’t have to pay for them for the rest of their life.”

"How can I help you get through this?"

“In sickness or in health...I meant it and I will search the world to find a way to keep you in it because you mean that much to me.”

“I don’t want to be your parent. I want to be your best friend, lover, cheering section, playmate and fill all the important parts of your soul. Together we will fill the rest as equals.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“When your mind wants to bolt, but your heart hangs on, it is because you don’t know with absolute certainty what the truth is. When you waste so much time on something that you want to believe is true, you begin to overthink things. Eventually, something obvious becomes twisted into something absurd, which keeps us from believing a simpler answer. Over time, you believe your own lies and fantasies to shield yourself from hurt, when following what is logical would have been the quickest way to healing. It is through your own self-imposed delusions that you lose your perspective. The world then becomes different to you when in fact you are different. Why? Because your own ego gets in the way. Everyone wants to feel special. Everyone wants to have faith in others. Everyone wants to believe in fairytales, happy endings and have all bad interactions with others explained. It is easier to sit in denial with your delusions and pray God will intervene, not realizing he has. He gave you commonsense and intuition, but you didn’t like how it made you feel. This is what true mental illness really is: Following your gut instinct through hell because you want to prove you are right, either to yourself or others. You sacrifice choosing to do right, in order to avoid pain. However, you don't realize that you have been in pain for a really long time and believed this was how happiness felt.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“It is a wonderful thing to be liked by a stranger, but without respect it is pointless. It is like pulling the pedals off a rose and throwing the stem at the person you like. It’s creepy, but had good intentions that suddenly experienced some strange form of verticillium wilt, during the climate change of their mood.”
― Shannon L. Alder

“Keep those that influence you for the better close and never give them a reason to keep you far away.”
― Shannon L. Alder