“It is so easy to believe that you’ll always be ready to handle everything life presents to you, but a day–many days–arrive and you can’t bear it, you can’t even dream that you have it within you or around you to cope or to survive.
Hold on to that emotional, dreaming person–the one who feels–and keep family and friends and the things you love and the things you live for deep in your head and your heart. Eat and laugh a lot; love deeply; give fully.
It doesn’t just go by fast; it comes at you with alarming speed and stealth and damage. You will not be prepared. You will be knocked off your feet, your foundation. Make sure it’s a strong foundation, and make sure you know how to get back to it and on it and re-build it. No one is ready for what ultimately arrives, but some are lucky and are able to not only survive but to get others through it all. Work on that. Feel more. Laugh a lot. Draw a circle of loved ones around you.”
Marlon Brando
King Edward Street Chapel 