Updates from the void

it’s anything but empty.

The void is anything but empty. 

For more about the void, read this post that drew more response than anything else I’ve written. Voids — the spaces between what is coming and what we left behind — are universal, apparently. 

The void is dark and full of endless hidden potentials. Adopting the idea that the void is working for you makes it easier to trust the process of venturing through, and even get a little excited about doing so. Rather than filling the void with stuff you don’t even like, or trying frantically to flip on the overhead lights to see where you’re going, you can settle into playing the long game, with your candle. The void is anything but empty, and slowly, you can get a sense for what is emerging.

Voids contain opportunities. They can help you learn important lessons and introduce you to interesting ideas about how you might want to live. You may discover new music, routines, or ways you like your coffee. You will likely bump into new people who become long-term loves in your life.

Voids can also be pretty nasty. They can be full of potholes and alluring dead-ends. Perhaps the ‘opportunity’ of the void you are in is to fall hard or get completely lost. Perhaps you are faced with frightening truths and realize that what you thought was working is not. Voids are inherently confrontational, and your little candle brings light to what’s right in front of you.

While I’m certainly one to say to treat the void with respect and grace, let me also be one to say that rage and confusion are appropriate ways to go about it. You are not supposed to dance through hardship with ease and a regulated nervous system. That message only perpetuates the narrative that we must be perfect, functioning cogs who produce pretty things. Achieve more, get there faster, do better, feel good. Where is the source of this societal idea that one deserves to feel good and move efficiently all the time? Can it be rooted out and composted?

The void is supposed to bring out the most uncomfortable, honest feelings and responses. That’s what it’s here for.

If we’re interested in the potential goodness and love that the void has to offer us, we’ve also gotta be willing to experience the treacherous darkness.

Traversing the (fucked up & beautiful) terrain.

On a collective and individual level, people are enduring voids everywhere. Flailing around, unsure what to do but pretending that they do, clinging to things that used to be sturdy but now are crumbling.

Maybe instead of striving to look cool and aloof and confident as we learn how to traverse uncertain terrain, we should strive to be earnest and honest new kids. It’s ok to be the ones who change our minds a lot, look kind of weird, and trip over our own feet because we don’t know where to go yet. It’s ok to fumble and be awkward as we practice figuring things out.

Whatever comes up in the void must be faced, regardless of how it makes us feel. Go slowly, go with grace, go with humility. And — let the rage and the despair emerge when it does.

We don’t have to be grateful and calm all the time, and we shouldn’t be. Amidst the darkness and the challenges, we can also notice the light and sweetness that is there. Remembering to anchor into love, when we can, is what we can do to steady ourselves.

Maybe, the way through the void is to simply be curious and willing to feel it all.

xx, maggie

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