Truth Diaries: Romance, Reflections & Rejections

Threads of Hope: The unravelling threads of life that breathe truth and heart

Mar 13, 2026

Truth Diaries: Romance, Reflections & Rejections
Date & Time: Monday 16th February 2026, 5:04pm
Location: In the cold and cloudy North of England
Mood: reflective, observant, optimistic

I was sitting in my favourite coffee shop. I was writing for a while when, during a break, I watched this woman sit next to me. I don’t make a habit of talking to strangers, but something was telling me to talk to her, and we had this lovely conversation for about two hours. I walked away feeling reflective, inspired and grateful for other women. It’s been a mixture of good and bad in the last couple of weeks, and it’s moments like this that can soften you, remind you what a beautiful thing it is to be human. I’ve been thinking a lot about the word romance at the moment, and all of its meanings. We are in February, the month of love. This is when we celebrate Valentine’s Day, and it’s also the month of my anniversary with my partner. This year, we're celebrating 4 years together.

Since the beginning of the year, I have been romanticising winter as much as I possibly can. Adding some joy to the darkest of mornings and the chilliest of evenings can be easier on some days and harder on others. I’ve been lighting candles at my desk in the morning before I start work, listening to gentle, calming music while I do my crafts, and playing my musical instruments to illuminate the quiet house with sound. I try to add whimsy to my life all year round, but in Winter especially, I need extra sparkles to ensure that my mental wellbeing remains steady and I don’t drop into seasonal depression. Often, darkness still wins, and in the last few weeks, I have had moments of frustration, tears, and lingering despondency, but I’ve also had some sweet, gentle, soft, and contented moments that have lifted me back up again.

Hope is the word of this season. It was also the theme of my first Holding Space workshop, which I led at the end of January. It was a small group, but I felt it went really well (apart from a technical glitch at the beginning). I am excited to lead these workshops this year, and even though they are starting small, I am confident they will grow, and by the end of 2026, there will be much larger groups attending. I’ve put a lot of work into these workshops, and alongside them, I have been attending an artist-leaders programme, gaining deeper insight into what it takes to succeed in my chosen field. Just as with writing, facilitation is a skill, and we only improve it by doing. To become a better writer, we must write. To become a better facilitator, we must teach. I am also working full-time hours now, so my time is not my own for four days of the week. I’ve had to make Fridays my “creative practice” day.

I’ve also been submitting a lot of poetry in these first six weeks of the year. Winning prizes, competitions, getting your poems selected for a literary magazine or journal: it’s a numbers game. The more you submit, the more likely you are to be successful. I’m not really a numbers person, and I'm pretty sure I have Dyscalculia! So my partner actually did the maths for me. I’ve submitted well over 100 poems in the last two years, and he calculated the exact number of rejections compared to the ones that found a home and succeeded. My current success rate is 6.1%.

Which is crazy when you look at it like that! What that means is that 94% of the time, I fail. I have had so many emails begin with “unfortunately” that I’ve actually started to hate that word. I will be honest, the rejection does get to you. As much as you laugh it off or say “ah, well, maybe the next one”, the constant uncertainty and rejection emails can chip away at your confidence as a writer. I deeply considered stopping. In December, I told myself that maybe I should take a break from submitting my work for a while, that I wasn’t getting anywhere with it. But in January, that intuition, a deep voice inside of me, urged me to keep going, telling me that I’m so close, I need to keep being resilient and keep putting myself and my work out into the world.

I haven’t been particularly social in the last few weeks, but we are still in the depths of winter, and I've been hit by so many viruses and colds that I haven’t felt up to going out. We did venture out to celebrate our recent friend getting married, though; she’s moving country, permanently, so I’m happy that I went and we could all get together one last time. Being in your thirties is a strange decade: everyone you know is doing life at a different pace. There is no right or wrong timeline, of course, something you start to unlearn as you get older. But some people are married, with kids; some still live with their parents; others are thriving in their careers; and some are single, hoping to find love. Time is flashing by so quickly, I sometimes look in the mirror, see the finest of lines emerging at the corners of my eyes and wonder how I made it here to thirty-two. I feel incredibly blessed that I have made it to thirty-two; my younger self didn’t think I would. I know I’m only dipping my toes into the third decade of my life, but I do think my thirties are my favourite phase of life so far.

Another recent celebration is an anniversary. We celebrated four years together a few days ago, and I can’t believe it’s been that long. It seems like yesterday I walked into that coffee shop to meet him; my life changed forever, and I had no idea it was going to happen. I think that’s one of my favourite things about life, and it reminds me of a word that I adore: Serendipity, which means an unplanned or fortunate discovery that changes the path of your life. Even on the difficult days, the days when we fight, or the world around us feels dark, I never stop feeling grateful for him. He’s the warmth, the light, my safety and my home. I couldn’t imagine a variation of my life without him in it anymore, and I wouldn’t want to.

I do think the universe puts people in our lives who are meant to be there. It’s the strangest sensation: a feeling of familiarity when you meet someone, as if you’ve known them forever. That’s the invisible string theory. Two people meet at the right time. Two people sharing a moment, a season or a lifetime. Romance is everywhere, if you’re willing to notice it. To be romantic isn’t only reserved for sexual or intimate relationships. You can be romantic in your everyday life, not just for others but for yourself. And this is a lesson I am beginning to learn. That love isn’t as small as we make it. It flows through us all, and everything from lighting a candle for yourself to regulate your nervous system to meeting a stranger in a coffee shop or celebrating an anniversary with your lover, there is a vastness to love that I don’t think we always grasp. Love is everything and everywhere all at once. I hope you notice and feel some form of love today, dear reader. Until the next Truth Diary, I wish you joy and light today.

EJ’s Threads of Wisdom

Romance isn't just intimate love.

If you look for it, you will see that love is everywhere.

Failure is inevitable.

Success doesn't come easy.

EJ’s Threads of Verse

Love Never Ends
Love is everywhere — a halo above our heads — the roots beneath our feet — in the energy — the glimpses of magic — the people we meet — however brief or steady — lovers or strangers — family or friends — love never ends — it can shift into grief — it can fade into a shade of blue — but I don’t think that love is ever through — it exists in our bones — makes a home so deep — it’s something we keep — from our first breath until our last.

EJ’s Threads of Hope Prompts

Maybe it's serendipity

You are in my life for a reason

Love has many forms

If you use any of these prompts to produce a piece of creative writing or essay, tag Threads Of Hope and thank EJ (I’d love to read them!)

EJ’s Recommendations

Do you have a newsletter you want me to read? A writer to check out? A podcast? A book? Comment below and I will feature it in my recommendations.

Discussion about this post

Ready for more?