“All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.”

This quote is all over the place and, i recently found out via wikipedia, has been used by everyone from Shakespeare to Bob Marley. I originally found it in the poem above which is in the ‘Fellowship of the Ring’ by J.R.R Tolkien.

It immediately popped out to me because honestly, I’m a bit like a magpie and if something is shiny, metaphorically or otherwise, I’m hugely attracted to it. Of course, this is sometimes a huge mistake and i end up in sticky situations. An example of this is a friend I made in college purely because she was ‘cool’. Fake tan, hair extensions, designer clothes, that kind of thing. I was essentially attracted to the shiny idea of her perfection only to find out that she was a bit of a mess and doing hard drugs, which i am totally not into.

Theres also the case of just because it looks good doesn’t mean it is, such as cheap holidays or flats with cheap rent, which is why I’m currently stuck in a flat with peeling paint and broken windows that we were promised would be fixed by Christmas of 2014.

I just find this to be a really good quote for me to keep in mind and the entire poem is great, ‘Not all those who wander are lost’ is definitely my second favourite quote but i think thats for another post!

-Dana