I crave to be loved; I yearn to be seen.

If you ever ask me do I ever want to be loved? My answer would absolutely be I just wanted to be seen.

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.

— Mother Teresa

There’s a tender ache in my chest, a longing that grows in silence, in the quiet spaces where I wonder if I am invisible. We walk through life hoping to be understood, wishing for that glance, that touch, that will tell us: I see you, I hold your heart. But in the absence of such recognition, we question our worth, our very place in this world.

They say, “To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” But how many of us sit in the shade, waiting for that light to touch our skin? I feel the weight of wanting, of needing to be more than just a shadow in someone’s world, to be seen not just for what I am but for all the light and darkness I carry.

In Adrianne Lenker’s voice, I find an echo of my heart:

“Didn’t you believe in me?”

— and isn’t that the truth of it? A balancing act between the beauty of love and the ache of its absence. We search for something to anchor us, to make the yearning worth it, to make the waiting feel less like a desert of loneliness.

Some gentle reminder that might soften the edges: maybe, just maybe, the love we seek must begin from within. Perhaps, I need to see myself first, to hold my own heart in tender hands. “You are enough,” I whisper, not always believing it, but trying to.

Note to self:
You don’t have to rush. Love will come, as all things do, in its own time. Until then, be your own light. Be the love you seek. And remember, as Lenker sings:

• “ Not a lot, just forever. Intertwined, sewn together. ”

Let it be a soft reminder that you are here, seen by your own heart.