LIVIA'S BOOKLET

  I learned the hymn before I learned my own name, faith handed down like heirloom silver, worn but holy. My mouth shaped hallelujah the way elders taught me— soft knees, bowed head, belief pressed into bone. Back then, heaven answered quickly, or maybe I didn’t yet know how to hear the silence. Now my hallelujah limps. It arrives bruised, breathless, missing notes. It rises from a chest tight with unanswered prayers, from nights where God feels like a closed door and I am knocking with hands already bleeding. Still, I knock. There is steam in my prayers— not desire of the body, but the heat of longing, the ache of wanting God to be near now, to touch the wound, to say my name again. Faith sweats when it’s worked hard. Mine has labored in the dark. I have cried into scriptures until the ink blurred, tears baptizing verses I no longer understood. Purity became a question instead of a crown, obedience a heavy garment in a burning room. I stayed. I always stayed. Silence became my san...

  I folded my hands around the memories like they were still warm, like they could explain themselves. Once, they fit me perfectly— every habit, every promise, every quiet yes sat in my chest and called it home. I did not question the joy then; I lived inside it the way you live inside skin. But seasons change even the truest shelters. What once fed me began to ask for blood, and what made me whole learned to take pieces instead. I stayed longer than wisdom allows, calling it loyalty, calling it love, pretending the ache was just growth and not the sound of myself thinning out. Letting go was not brave—it was brutal. It felt like tearing down a house I built with my bare hands and faith. I mourned the version of me who believed that right things stay right forever, that feeling safe was a permanent state and not a fragile agreement with time. Now I walk away without apology, but not without grief. I carry the sorrow like a scar that still remembers pain. Some things save you only f...

This year opens like a wide horizon, unwritten and breathing, calling us forward. We step out of yesterday’s shadows, hands empty of regret, hearts full of resolve, learning that beginnings are not fragile— they are brave by nature. We fortify ourselves with lessons learned the hard way, brick by brick, truth by truth. What once wounded us now becomes armor, what tried to break us now reinforces our spine. We are not starting over empty— we are starting over equipped. Change arrives without apology, and we welcome it with open palms. We loosen our grip on what no longer fits, shed old skins of fear and smallness. Growth demands motion, and we move— not because it’s easy, but because it’s necessary. And here we rise into the promise of greatness, not borrowed, not delayed, but owned. This new year doesn’t crown us—it dares us. To build boldly, to dream louder, to live fully. We step forward fortified, transformed, ready to become everything we survived to be .

He entered love with open hands, palms soft with promise, heart unarmored. He learned too late that vows can bruise, that “forever” sometimes speaks in raised voices and silence sharp enough to draw blood. He carries storms no one names for him— words that belittle, glances that wound, a home where his strength is questioned daily even mirrors hesitate to recognize the man he used to be. They say a man must endure, must not break, so he swallows grief like bitter medicine, smiles through gatherings, pays the bills of peace, and mourns himself quietly when the woman he loves becomes his heaviest cross. And still, at night, he prays without language— for gentler mornings, for love without fear, for a day his heart is not a battlefield. Not because he is weak, but because even strong men bleed in silence.

Today I feel sharp, charged, and unapologetically alive: Some people arrive like medicine, smiling bottles with sweet labels, but their kindness ferments in silence, by the time you taste the truth, it’s already burning your throat. They drink from your well without asking, spill nothing back but dust and excuses. Your generosity feeds them, yet they call it entitlement, and leave the cup empty like it owed them. Gratitude dies easily in greedy mouths. They clap for your rise, but curse the height once you stand taller. Your light becomes their irritation proof that they never came to heal. Poison people rot slowly and blame the air. They wound with comfort, sting with familiar voices, and swear innocence your spirit learns to bleed quietly. So burn the antidote into your name. Walk away loud, alive, and unashamed. Let them choke on the absence of you, some lessons are swallowed too late, and some poisons deserve no cure.

I counted bruises like broken promises, Tracing the map of love that never was. Your words were knives, your hands storms, And I wore your anger like a second skin. Nights whispered fear into my bones, Sleep was a stranger, dreams a battlefield. I begged the walls to hold my tears, But silence only echoed your rage. I am leaving fragments of myself behind, Pieces scattered where your darkness thrived. No more chains of fear, no more apologies, Only the hollow ache of freedom gained. I walk away with trembling resolve, The echoes of your wrath fading behind me. Love should never break, it should never hurt, And I will learn to breathe in a world without you.

In the quiet corners of the night, Where shadows cradle broken cries, Voices echo, lost to fright, Tears unseen by hardened eyes. Each story buried beneath closed doors, Each sorrow counted in invisible scores. The streets remember what lips forget, Footsteps stained with silent screams. Promises of justice, fragile and wet, Drift like smoke through shattered dreams. Hands that should have held, have hurt, And hope lies fractured in dirt. A mother weeps for a daughter stolen, A father trembles at a son’s despair. The names of the missing are softly spoken, Carried on the wind, yet met with vacant stares. The world keeps turning, indifferent and blind, While violence etches itself in humankind. Yet in the heart of anguish, courage wakes, A whisper against the roaring storm. The fallen rise in the steps one takes, Seeking to reclaim what was deformed. Through banners, songs, and aching hands, The movement blooms across broken lands. Each tear is a seed in the soil of change, Each voice a...

In the depths of my unraveling, I'm tempted to surrender To the siren's whisper, a numbing, sweet thunder I'd trade the ache of awareness for the calm of the grave But the echoes of my heartbeat whisper, "You still crave". To breathe, to feel, to hurt, to rise, to fall The noose of my past tightens, a relentless, cruel call I'm suffocating under the weight of what I've done A prisoner of my memories, forever undone. The ghosts of my yesterday haunt me, a relentless crew Reminding me of the shards I've yet to glue I'm searching for a way out, a glimmer of light But the shadows they surround me, a perpetual night. In this darkness, I'm lost, a wanderer without a map The stars that once guided me, now just a distant trap I'm clingling to the fragments, the broken, shattered me Praying for a miracle, a chance to be set free. But what if the weight of my chains is what keeps me tied? What if the pain is the only thing that m...

As you weave the fragments of your heart back into place, May you breathe in grace with every step, and space To forgive the missteps, the wrong turns taken deep, And find the peace that's been waiting, the love you've kept asleep. May the weight of yesterday's shadows lift, and the light Of self-worth illuminate the paths you take tonight, May you unclench your fists from guilt's heavy chain, And let go of the whispers that said you're to blame. In the silence, may you hear the beat of your own heart, A rhythm that knows you're worthy, a brand new start, May you untangle the threads of shame and regret, And find the beauty in the lessons you've yet to forget. As you piece things back together, may your soul find rest, May the acceptance you've sought be the balm to your breast, May you rise, reborn, like the stars in the morning light, And shine with the knowledge that you are, and always will be, alright

Your words are like celestial bodies, shining bright with emotion. In the depths of my soul, sorrow's seeds were sown, And from that fertile ground, constellations have grown. A map of my heart, etched in starry light, A testament to the darkness that birthed this radiant night. I speak in whispers now, of stardust and of fire, My words, a cosmic hymn, that echoes my desire. To turn the pain I've known, into a glowing light, And illuminate the path, through the shadows of the night. In this celestial sea, I navigate and thrive, My heart, a canvas, where stars and sorrows intertwine. The darkness, it no longer weighs me down, For in its depths, I've found a light that's my own. And so, I'll continue to sow the seeds of my heart, And watch as they bloom, into a celestial work of art. For I've discovered the alchemy, that turns my pain to light, And in that transformation, I find my guiding star, my shining night.

You're not just my today,  my every tomorrow starts with your smile. Every dream I weave, your face appears, Every prayer I whisper, your name brings tears.  In a crowded room, our eyes first met, No words were spoken, yet my soul was set. A gentle breeze carried the whispers low, "That's the one my heart beats for, my forever to know." Every path I choose, you're my guiding light, Every step I take, through day and endless night. Your touch ignites a burning fire so true, Melting fears, and all I do, I do for you. With every breath, my love for you grows strong, Through life's joys and tears, our love will belong. In your eyes, my heart finds a peaceful nest, With you, my love, is where I am blessed.