by Ivona Bozik

Beauty has always seemed delicate to me. Just as life, it is of an elusive and melancholic nature, even more, it seems to be built on a certain kind of weakness, maybe even helplessness. For me, there is always some sadness in beauty, just as much as there is no sadness without beauty. I once shared this belief with someone and he replied that was because we found beauty so much bigger than us. I felt there was more, though.

It is a paradox, yet this play of indirect contrasts shows us how profound joy and profound sorrow coexist in the world. How separating one from the other is somehow cruel and sinful, and most of all it is blind and sturdy.

The more I live and open up, the more I experience, the more I travel and discover, the more world I see and people I meet, the more I feel the truth of this puzzle. Whether it is out of a desire to advance, a quest after earthly pleasure or a reluctance to accept mere contentment, the result sums up to the recognition that saying yes to life is confirming its entirety and cutting off pain is denying it. It is funny all this finally fell into place for me just as much through traveling, going out there and living in action, than reading in the silence of my room.

It’s the same with our personalities and relationships, isn’t it? Somehow, it is often our weaknesses that not just make us who we are, but incidentally build our genuine strengths as well. I know people consider me weak, not confident and consequently easy to manipulate, but they do not realize it is in my shyness, silence and distance I find and form myself. That is why their advances often just bounce off if they do not come from sincere closeness. There is power, even more importantly, there is humanity in embracing fragility. It is there we can genuinely approach and trust others.

Because, where else do we find love, ultimately, if not in the intimate sharing of vulnerabilities and complexities of who we are?

© Ivona Bozik

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Ivona Bozik (she/her) is a curious Slovenian writer and content creator, living in France, passionate about literature, music, travel and social justice. Her texts were so far published in various Slovenian literary magazines, as well as on Feminine Collective, Hook Literary Magazine and trash to treasure lit.

You can find her on WordPress or Instagram.

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