One of my favorite quotes of all time is by Khalil Jamison, and it reads,

Relationships of all kinds are like sand held in your hand.

Held loosely with an open hand, the sand remains where it is.

The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers.

Held loosely with respect and freedom for the other person, it is likely to remain intact.

But hold too tightly, too possessively, the relationship slips away and is lost.

When we love something, we sometimes try to control it, to keep all danger away.

We may think that if we can just keep a close eye on everything, eliminate every risk,

and make every decision if we hold on too tightly, that we can create a world free of heartbreak

and loss, that maybe, just maybe, we can systematically create a

world where nothing can go wrong. But that desire to protect can begin to skew reality. It's risky

to assume that we know best. In our quest to fiercely protect those that we love, sometimes we

create an artificial bubble of safety, a bubble that will

inevitably, eventually burst. Welcome to National Park After Dark.

Welcome. I had never heard that quote before, but man, do I resonate with it? I think, to be honest, I saw it many years ago when Instagram was really first starting to take hold and all people posted were either food picks or like quotes. Yeah. The good old days. The good, the glory days. Um, the golden age of Instagram. I remember I screenchotted it because I loved it so much and I resonated it. And I

resonated with it so profoundly. And it's just never left my mind because it's so applicable to

every scenario, every relationship. And as a lover of freedom and

wanting to have it for myself, but also provide it for others, it's like, it's the best.

Yeah. The second I've ever felt suffocated in a relationship is the moment I've known that

it wasn't going to last. Yeah. Don't fence me in.

It's also my favorite song of all time.

Okay.

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