courage, hope, strength, and love

courage: a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger or pain without showing fear
hope: the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best
strength: the property of being physically or mentally strong
love: a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person

in the dictionary, these are merely words thought up by scholars to try and define the human condition. their definitions; a way to relay a message to the greater man kind that these feelings you have felt once, are real by definition.

the actual feelings could never be told or described in a way that would truly show justice to just how powerful they can be.

courage; to face troubles alone with a brave face and no stumble in your step. to see the storm coming and yet run towards the rain and fierce winds. to brave the heart of the storm, and live long enough to tell those who glanced from a distance. without courage comes doubt, fear, and inevitable self-destruction. without courage, relationships will test, try, and kill you. relationships aren't the fairy tales we were led to believe were true as a child - they will rip your heart out and leave you to bleed. but courage - courage will be the voice that keeps your heart beating.

hope; in yourself, family, friends, and lover. hope is placing trust in another without knowing the ultimate outcome. if you survive past your teen years, you are clinging for dear life on to the ounce of faith you have left in others. we as humans take that faith, and give it to the one person we believe won't break our spirit. we offer all that we have without second thought - and pray that not only are they able to care for themselves but for us as well. in one moment, our life is in someone elses' hands. and as human's, foolish humans - we hope that man can do no harm.

strength; mind over body. if we think strong - strong we'll be. and sometimes the lack of strength is actually the only thing we process, so overcompensating is our survival tactic. we are taught all of our lives the rights and wrongs of life. it is said that a 'story is someones past making your future mistakes.' but really, no one can fully prepare you for what lies ahead. the stories and mistakes are not enough for us - we choose to repeat pasts and open new doors. but that's living. humans are animalistic creatures with a thirst for the unknown. and when we find ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place - strength becomes our only friend.

love; of all the definitions this world could offer - the one true representation can be learned only with the heart. love is a savage beast. this four letter word has humans doing leaps and bounds for one another, and as quickly as you are up - your face is horizontal with the pavement. we have all faced it once or twice in our life - this is the ruler of all. it dictates your moods, your actions, and your reactions. love guides us in directions we choose not and fills our bodies with immeasurable volumes of different emotions. love can be felt and heard but perhaps the most difficult of our tasks is for one human being to love another; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.