After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love
by Alexandra Elle
30 popular highlights from this book
Key Insights & Memorable Quotes
Below are the most popular and impactful highlights and quotes from After the Rain: Gentle Reminders for Healing, Courage, and Self-Love:
“I am being patient and giving myself permission to start over as many times as I need to.”
“Letting go is teaching me that I am not lacking, but receiving. I am acquiring knowledge, resilience, and room in my heart for something greater.”
“There will be moments when I have to start from scratch and begin again — even after I've done intense work to mend. There's always more to learn in healing.”
“After the rain, truth finds a way to shine through the clouds, reminding us all that we are deserving of healing. That we're worthy of change. That we are built to expand and stretch into our best selves.”
“Transitions, big or small, are rarely straightforward. They require abandoning the parts of ourselves that feel safe and familiar. It is a massive task to intentionally choose change over comfort. But it taught me to trust myself more and embrace the shifts.”
“I am deserving of emotionally clean spaces.”
“The notion that I had the power to outgrow who I was, and start a new relationship with who I wanted to be, became clear to me when I was about twenty-one. Even though it felt impossible, I wanted badly to reroute my life and find joy, but I didn't know where to start. Searching for and finding my how was the scariest thing I'd done in my life. Changing meant I had to start with being honest about who I was and who I wanted to be. It meant learning the difference between being alone and being lonely. I had to get my stuff together. And in order to do that, I knew I needed to leave people behind who were distracting me from my growth. I had to start from scratch and acknowledge my roles in the cycles that I said I wanted to break. Committing to change meant challenges and trust, which stripped me of everything that I knew.”
“I learned that we don't own people. We can't stop anyone from hurting or disappointing us. And even those we love will make mistakes and let us down.”
“My need for validation was rooted in my belief that I was born a broken girl. I didn’t know how to fix myself or find magic in the mess I was making, and I believed that in order to become whole, I needed someone else to put my pieces together.”
“Life doesn’t stop when we grieve. Learning to soothe our suffering—choosing how to move through our pain—that is where the prize is.”
“During my crusade through self-discovery, I am continuously reminded that I am a student, and I will always be one. That is the gift even when we feel uncertain or lost in our current season. In order to grow, we, like the transition of autumn and rebirth of spring, must also prepare to shed and begin again. In pursuance of blooming, there must be rain. As we wait for the downpour to cease and new light to emerge, patience is our best and dearest friend. The sun will be on the horizon again, eventually.”
“Despite all the work I have done to arrive in a place of joy and contentment, there is still so much more to be considered. There is still much more to be done. Unfolding never stops, no matter how successful we become, how full we feel, or how at ease we may believe ourselves to be. There is always a next step, another way, and more to absorb.”
“Forgiveness teaches you time and time again that you cannot change what was, but you can always choose to give yourself grace and press forward into what is possible.”
“No matter how strenuous life gets, keep trusting your ability to emerge like the sun after a storm. You'll always find your way home to yourself, even if you get lost along the way.”
“You don't have to carry your trauma so close to your chest anymore. Unpack it. Leave things behind and start over as many times as you need to.”
“Transformation comes in waves. Deep down, you know that you're a work of heart — abstract, filled with meaning and discovery. You've made time to mend what was broken and tend to what's been hurting. and still, forgiving yourself seems light-years away. You're worthy.”
“Remember, the goal isn't to escape, become numb, or ignore what hurts or haunts. It's to acknowledge, accept, and appreciate all that coms with the ebb and flow of healing.”
“So instead of mentally sprinting through life, I stopped, slowed down and expressed gratitude for all that was surrounding me.”
“Perhaps that's the reminder I needed: to make time for myself and learn how to breathe again, unrushed and on purpose.”
“I continue to learn that I can flourish and be complete with or without someone standing next to me. I am my own validation, which now feels empowering rather than isolating and unnerving.”
“Time has taken me by the hand and revealed how to be okay with not being okay. How to stop pretending and performing for the sake of being seen and heard. I am not on a stage. And being anyone but myself would be a disservice to my purpose.”
“I grow more comfortable with the fact that emotional hardship does not have an end point. Triggers will present themselves, and sometimes I don't know what the hell I am doing. But I take comfort in knowing that I have the ability to learn new ways to self-soothe when grief strikes.”
“I have the strength to touch where it hurts. I will tell my pain that it's safe to heal. In the throes of healing, I may break open time and time again to learn that the things I thought I healed from still need nurturing.”
“I am my own. I am enough. I am rooted in love. My life is abundant. My heart is resilient. My happiness is important. Nothing has the power to break or destroy me. I am whole even through hurt.”
“In pursuance of blooming, there must be rain.”
“learning the difference between being alone and being lonely.”
“I am brave enough to see myself, even when others don’t.”
“Forgive yourself for not knowing, not trusting, not caring, not understanding, and not getting back up when things felt too burdensome to hold.”
“Trust in the work you’re doing to become who you’ve been trying to be.”
“I wasn't trying my best, and it was time to get out of my own way. I felt like a robot trapped in a cycle of never-ending mediocrity. I'd gotten comfortable with being average. For me, change required being brave enough to let go and vulnerable enough to start over, even if that meant trying more than once or twice to get it right.”
