Everyone has that one time in their life they wish hadn’t happened. In my case, that was my time with him.
From a seemingly normal relationship, I ended up in a nightmare. He completely broke my trust, mentally abused me and pretended like it never happened.
The worst thing was I almost stopped believing in good people and myself. I was crushed by the fact that someone could say they loved you just to betray you the next day.
I wasn’t ready for his mind games; I didn’t even recognize when he was doing them.
Emotionally, he set me back so much that I needed to start everything all over again.
Now I think it was a good thing. Why? Because I finally learned to truly love myself. In order to get through the pain, I had to be very honest with myself and ask myself what I was doing wrong.
The only thing I did wrong was letting others decide what was good for me and letting them decide my worth. That was the hardest thing to accept and change.
Sometimes, I get the feeling that many people don’t know how hard it is to mentally pull yourself out of a dark place, let alone do it every day while doing everything else besides that.
It takes courage to stand up for yourself, especially when someone is gaslighting you and makes you question your reality and feelings.
I had enough of that. I’d rather make a mistake than trust someone else to know what I feel, want and need better than me.
It’s true that my story is filled with terrible choices and things I wish I hadn’t done but it’s also full of transformation, getting up and being at peace with myself after that.
I truly believe that a mistake is a lesson rather than a loss.
Loss is something you can’t get back; the lesson is a wake-up call; the lesson is improvement.
It makes you change your life and become better and stronger. Sometimes, I think that tough days maybe didn’t make me stronger but showed me how strong I am.
Either way, something I saw as a mistake has, over time, become so much more than that.
I’ve learned that making mistakes indeed makes me imperfect but imperfect doesn’t mean less than.
I can be a work in progress and still love myself and have respect for myself.
Life will often knock you down, you will see things you don’t want to see, you will feel rejected and ask yourself, “What’s the point of it all?”
Still, you’ll get back up on your feet and move on. That’s the point—to always get up, learn, improve and go forward.
Don’t give up on love because of one person. Hold tightly to love because you deserve it.
You deserve to be loved as you are and cherished for all things that make you you.
Don’t let the things that happen to you decide who you are. You have the power to decide what to do with yourself, your feelings and your life. Just believe in yourself.
Remember that being happy isn’t a destination or the point where you will have it all—it’s being thankful for what you have now and making the best of it.
With the right kind of mindset, which is inspiring and productive, you’ll allow the right kind of man into your life.
A man who will respect you and accept all of you, who will understand your heart and enjoy your mind. Someone who will see beyond the superficial things in life and be ready for a meaningful relationship.
It’s the same with the people you surround yourself with.
Give yourself the best you can because you deserve it. Learn from mistakes but regret nothing. Regret is a pointless and suffocating feeling that only makes things harder.
Instead, gather together all the things you have learned and make a promise to yourself:
I will never stop striving for a better me and a better life. I know that life is imperfect but it’s still beautiful and magical.
I deserve to live a meaningful and happy life despite the hardships I have gone through.
I am not my struggle, I’m a strong person who keeps moving forward despite the obstacles.
