Love Looks Pretty on You

You don’t think about life when you are living it, or love when you are loved. You don’t think about hunger when there is abundance, or your dreams when they’ve come to fruition.

Longing has a language
that is all her own.
The language of skin,
the language of flowers.
I am a body of longing,
a vessel of language.
For you, I am calamity
in a locked box

There are days when I don’t see you, touch you, hear you. But not a day goes by where I don’t feel you.

He only wants you

when he can’t have you.

So why don’t you give him

what he wants.

I have been quiet lately, I know. Not because I don’t have anything to say, but because I have too much.

Love looks pretty on you, and you should wear it with pride

First Steps

While you look at yourself through someone else’s eyes, you are not free.

If you speak the words that have come from someone else’s mouth, you are not free.

When you say yes when your heart is screaming no, you are not free.

There are things we sacrifice for love, that we willingly give. But no one who loves you will ever ask you to give up more than you are willing.

Someone who has your heart is not entitled to your body. No one lays a finger on you without your permission.

No one makes you feel ashamed for knowing the people you’ve known. Or loving the people you’ve loved. Do not allow someone to undermine your past to appease their ego.

While you continue to compromise who you are, for the sake of another, you are not free.

When you find yourself compensating for someone else’s insecurities, you are not free.

If you find yourself worrying when you have done nothing wrong, you are not free.

First, you must recognize you are not free. Say it out loud to yourself. I am not free. Tell someone who cares about you. I am not free.

This is the first step you have taken back to yourself.

Idols

You put her on a pedestal. Love her, adore her, crown her as your queen. Then you watch and wait, for a slip, a split second when her guard is down. You would tear her into pieces just to claim a fragment of her story.

No one can be perfect all the time. Why do you expect her to be any different? Why is she held to an impossible standard? Why do you take it so personally when she contradicts the version of herself that exists only in your head?

You think you know her, that she owes you somehow. That her existence is only relative to yours. But she is her own person. She lives and breathes, she hopes and dreams. She has a life, a love, a family, a purpose. And she doesn’t owe anyone a damn thing.

Lang has been featured in various publications including the Sydney Morning Herald, the Straits Times, the Guardian, and the New York Times. She currently resides in New Zealand with her partner and fellow author Michael Faudet.

With a combined social media following of two million, Lang’s message of love, loss, and female empowerment continues to resonate with her multitude of readers.

Lang actively participates in international writers’ festivals, and her tours consistently draw massive crowds.