The girl I know.

 I looked in the mirror and exhaled deeply.

It had taken me a long time to get to this point..

Blood, sweat and tears?

No, so much more than that.

I’d been beaten down, dragged through the mud and thrown into the fire..and that was just the start.

I made the classic mistakes of giving my heart to all the wrong people in all the wrong ways and every one of those broken roads cut me a little deeper and taught me a little more-

About who I was, where I’d been and what I wanted.

Sure, I hated having my heart broken time and again, but I would never change a thing about all the wrong turns I’d made.

They led me to exactly where I was meant to be-

Standing here, in front of the mirror, beginning to recognize a person I had lost a long time ago..me.

I thought by forging an identity in the people I loved and losing myself in them, I’d be happier and the love would be stronger..

And it never was.

That’s not the way love works, I learned.

Real and lasting love doesn’t ask a person to change into something other than who they are..and I’ve finally started making my way back to myself, where I never should have left to begin with.

It’s been a long journey full of bumps and bruises, falls and failures, but I’m finally starting to recognize the person I’ve been trying to find and love for way too long.

Smiling, I pulled my hair back and swiveled my hips into a fun pose.

“Girl, you’ve been gone way too long! Let’s never do that again..”

I laughed loudly and beamed.

Sometimes, you gotta go through the hard times, try to love the wrong people and learn the difficult lessons to find your way.

It’s been hard, it’s been painful, it’s been full of sadness..

But it’s all been worth it.

I’m on my way home to better, stronger, happier version of myself, and it’s a great feeling.

I’m turning my pain into power, my struggles into my strength and most of all,

My lessons into reasons..

that deep down, I needed to turn my setback into my comeback-

Wiser, stronger and with a deeper love of myself than I’ve ever known.

I took one last look in the mirror, grinning broadly.

“I sure did miss you, girl. Let’s go remind them world why you’re amazing.”

And with a wink and a laugh, I kept moving forward on my journey..

This time, I’m doing it my way.

You are good.

 You are good. 

There is light swimming inside of you even when things are too dark to believe it. 

There is love in your smile.

Beauty dancing in your mind.

Love resting on your tongue, ready to find its way out. 

There’s kindness dwelling in places you don’t realize.

Power you have never known.

You’ve survived so many days in this life, to believe that you are purposeless is unfair. 

The bad, the dark, the negative that seem to call you home will leave 

Heaven is sometimes the new road after hell. 

The bad never last, it doesn’t have feet to keep chasing you forever. 

Rainbows that come after the storm will smile at you eventually.

You will growth roots to climb higher and what was meant to pull you down, you will climb over. 

You deserve the good that everyone else has. You deserve the good you’ve seen just out of reach. 

You are good. 

Despite the weight of the mistakes and haunting voice of failure.

I want to remind you that you are good, there is good in your soul and you will be good.