Dear One,

It’s alright to to feel all the emotions that you have bubbling up inside of you. It’s okay to share those feelings and to able to say the things that you are thinking.

It’s not okay for other voices to dismiss those or tell you that they are wrong or bad. They are jealous and they want to keep you in the place where they believe you should stay for their own comfort.

There will be many that will use you and take advantage of the kindness that you offer. They will step on you when you are up and keep you down to feel more important. They will misunderstand your tender heart.

They will put you in a box and expect you to stay there for safe keeping, only to retrieve you from that place when they want you for their own selfish desires.

They will expect many things from you and give little in return. They will misjudge your intentions and project their own fears onto you. They will hurt you when they are in pain so that they can feel better. They will cut you with words and blame you for your tears.

They will mock what you value most.

But, if I could tell you what I wished I could have heard so many years ago, this is what I would say—after I wrap my arms around you in a tight embrace and wipe away your tears:

You are perfectly fine just the way that you are! You are strong. Beautiful. Good.
You do not have to be anyone else, but you.

If there is anything I could give you, it would be the ability for others to see you the way that I do now. That others could understand your kindness, your gentle and fierce heart. That you would be appreciated and loved back in the same way that you love others. That the ones you give so unselfishly to would be able to see into your soul the way that you understand and feel the complexities of their own souls.

If there is anything I could help you to understand, it would be that you could see yourself the way that I do now. You are important and you matter.

How amazing you are comes from your own inner knowledge that you are enough, just as you are, in this very moment. And, even if no one can see you for who you truly are, know that somewhere inside of you is all the love that you need for yourself.

Because you are love.

~

Author: Stephanie Parry
Image: Chinh Le Duc/Unsplash
Editor: Lieselle Davidson
Copy Editor: Leah Sugerman
Social Editor: Catherine Monkman