Out of the Blue with Lee.

07/10/2025

Resilience Isn’t a Label. It’s a Conversation

People often look at others and say, “You’re so resilient,” as if it’s a badge that can be handed out from a distance. But resilience isn’t something you get to name for someone else. It’s not always strength that’s loud, visible, or obvious. Sometimes, resilience is quiet, it’s waking up and facing the day when your soul is tired. It’s showing up, even when the weight of what you carry is invisible to everyone else.

You don’t get to call me resilient without first sitting beside me, hearing my story, and asking me how I really feel.
Ask me:
How are you coping?
Do you feel like you’re bouncing back, or just barely holding on?
Is there something I can do to support you right now?

Because assuming strength without asking about the struggle dismisses my humanity. It skips the part where I get to name my experience.

Resilience looks different for everyone.
For some, it’s getting out of bed. For others, it’s asking for help. It’s choosing not to give up, even if that choice looks messy, slow, or uncertain.

So meet me where I’m at.

Don’t just see the surface and assume I’m thriving.
Ask. Pause. Listen.
Because even if I look strong, it doesn’t mean what I’m carrying is light.
Even if I’ve made it through, I still deserve your compassion, your care, and your curiosity.

Let’s stop defining resilience for people.
Let’s start witnessing it, with presence, with empathy, and most importantly, with respect for each person’s story.

Lee🦋

03/22/2025

They say blood is thicker than water,
but they never speak of the weight it carries,
how it anchors the soul in places
where love is a stranger,
where silence swallows every unspoken hurt.

They say family is everything,
but what if everything is hollow?
What if the roots that hold you down
also strangle your growth?
What if staying loyal to the soil
keeps you buried, unseen, unheard?

Water may not be thick,
but it knows how to move—
to carve new paths through stone,
to carry life where the ground was once dry.
It teaches us that flowing away
is sometimes survival,
that choosing freedom
over familiar pain
is not betrayal—
but the first breath of becoming.

So, let them speak of bonds and blood,
but know this:
there is no shame in choosing to bloom
where you are nourished,
to walk toward light
even if it means leaving the shadows
of where you began.

🦋

03/13/2025

We live in a world that claims to value authenticity and compassion, yet too often, these ideals are filtered through half-truths and conditions.

Authenticity is welcomed—so long as it is palatable. Compassion is offered—so long as the recipient abides by the rules. We speak of kindness, yet recoil at the raw, unfiltered reality of what it means to be truly seen.

But real authenticity is messy. It is uncomfortable. It does not ask for permission or fit neatly into curated narratives. It demands courage, the willingness to be misunderstood, and the strength to stand firm in the face of rejection.

True compassion is no easier. It is not a passive virtue, but an active choice—one that asks us to sit with the discomfort of another’s pain, to challenge our own biases, and to extend grace even when it is not reciprocated.

A world built on fierce love does not shy away from the complexity of the human experience. It does not reduce authenticity to a slogan or compassion to a transaction. Instead, it embraces the contradictions, the struggles, the sheer difficulty of what it means to be human.

And in doing so, it refuses to forget that the journey—however tough—is worth it.

Lee 🦋

02/04/2025

The Tempest and the Bloom

A storm breaks open the sky,
howling winds tearing through the quiet,
a violent unraveling,
like memories that strike without warning,
lightning that burns before it fades.

The earth does not ask for the flood,
the uprooted trees, the fractured ground—
nor do we ask for the wounds we carry,
the echoes that shake us in the night,
the chaos that bends us to breaking.

Yet, when the storm has spent its rage,
when the earth swallows its sorrow,
there is a hush, a stillness,
a strange and aching calm.

And from the wreckage, life stirs.
The rivers, once wild, find their course,
roots stretch toward the softened earth,
and flowers rise where ruin once lay.

Trauma, like nature, is both wrath and renewal—
a force that shatters, a force that shapes.
And in its wake, we stand,
not as we were,
but as something stronger,
something whole.

🦋

12/19/2024

🦋
Getting through the year is enough.
You are enough.
You have always been enough.

Life isnt about standing on ceremony for anyone else.

I am proud of you
I love you

🦋

11/06/2024

“Something Inside Me Faded”

It didn’t break me, but something shifted,
A piece of me gone, forever lifted.
I walked away, yet not complete,
A dimmed spirit, a quiet beat.

That day stole part of who I’d been,
Left me wandering, adrift within.
I move ahead, yet feel the ache,
A heart once full, now with a break.

It didn’t end me, but left a scar
An echo lingers, faint and far.
I’m here, I breathe, though truth is tied
A part of me, that day, gently died.

🦋

10/09/2024

Everyone has different sized plates. You might think someone doesn’t have alot on their plate compared to you, but that is not necessarily true ♡

Their plate could be very different from yours. It could be made of flimsy, thin paper instead of ceramic. It could be smaller, even slightly broken or just not be as sturdy as the ceramic plate ♡

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that! We just need to remember this instead of judging someone for not “doing as much as other people do/doing as much as society wants them to do”♡

Take this into consideration when you think someone has it “easy” or “don’t do much and get too overwhelmed” compared to you or other people ♡

Many people fight invisible battles everyday. Battles they never describe or discuss with anyone ♡

Always be kind, we can never truly know how someone feels and what they are going through at the moment. Your smile can totally make their day ♡

10/09/2024

The importance of rest….

If your hands feel full, stop and let go.

If you’re spinning too many plates, stop and release.

If there is no more room on your plate, stop and make space.

If things feel too hard, stop and ask for guidance.

If you feel like everything is boiling over, stop and reduce the temperature.

Rest is the most important gift that you can give yourself.
When we rest, we have more capacity. When we process and release, we can allow more to flow.

Think of productivity as energy, its supposed to flow, you’re not supposed to hold on to it.

🦋

10/09/2024

Suicidal thoughts can happen to any of us at any time. It’s important to know that you’re not alone and that things can get better.

To hear from others who have been there and come out the other side, visit https://tinyurl.com/mper5ub5

09/10/2024

09/10/2024

Its ok, to say “I need help”
Reach out and talk
You are worthy
You mean something
You are Loved
Allow someone to be your light when you see only darkness.

🦋

05/01/2024

Do you have lived experience of psychological trauma or work with people who do? Our TIER Lite 6-week programme could be just the place!

Join one of drop-in sessions to find out more:
Monday 6th May 10am-12noon (ONLINE)
Thursday 9th May 10am-1pm (RLP HQ)

Email the team on tier@resiliencelearningpartnership.co.uk for an informal chat or to book a space at the drop-in.