What is Tender Human?

Tender Human is you and me and the stories that make our lives.

It’s laughing until you cry, the butterflies before a first date, the anxiety after a break up.

Tender Human is the silence of a toddler surprised by pain, the scream that follows, and the reaction of every compassionate adult within earshot.

Tender Human is pleasure-seeking and finding.

It is pain-avoidance and its consequence.

Tender Human is taxing yourself with the forethought of grief.*

Tender Human is the leaky tampon, the snotty sneeze, and the broken heel. It’s coffee on your shirt, crumbs in your beard, and a broken condom.

Tender Human is wearing your new clothes right away because they make you feel like someone new.

Tender Human is being afraid to live because we’re more afraid to die.

Tender Human is the million things that went right so we forget all about what might have gone wrong.

Tender Human is anti-judgment and shame-free and affirms all well-meaning lives and lifestyles.

Tender Human is all of us.

About the Author

Minda Lane believes you should do what you love. To that end, she spends time writing this newsletter, cooking, petting dogs, moving her body, and playing outside. She works as a hospital chaplain and lives in Seattle.

*Wendell Berry is a Tender Human.