Dear ______,

I sit here, staring at my computer screen and trying to find the right words to type onto this blank Word Document. Nothing seems right, though. That’s because there are no words to truly express how it felt to be told by the person who I thought I loved that I wasn’t good enough.

Although it’s been a few years since I have even seen your face, let alone heard those words escape your mouth, it still hurts just the same. For months after we parted ways, I questioned myself. I questioned the time that we had spent together. I questioned what I really meant to you. For months I felt like I was the problem, and you allowed me to feel like that. Hell, you basically told me that’s what I was.

You changed me, you made me doubt my self worth, and you took a piece of me that I’ll never be able to get back. You broke me, and for what? Your own personal gain? An ego boost? A title? No answer will fully satisfy me, because no answer will ever compensate for what you put me through.

It’s hard to admit, but even after the many years that have come and gone since we have last spoken, I am still not fully healed. I’m still afraid to trust people, especially other boys. I am afraid to commit, and I can’t even begin to picture myself in a relationship with anyone, because I can’t bare giving my all to someone who isn’t deserving of me. I have cut off ties with nice boys because they were just that, too nice. I will always be skeptical of potential relationships because of you, and for that, I hate you.

I am not completely full of hatred when it comes to you, however. I want to thank you for allowing me to know the difference between love and lust. I want to thank you for helping me understand how a person shouldn’t be treated in a relationship, so that when I am ready to commit to someone, I will do so knowing that I will not put up with any behavior even remotely similar to yours. Most importantly, though, I want to thank you for actually letting me find all of the good qualities that I have, and allowing me to realize that I AM good enough.

When I wake up and look in the mirror every morning, I no longer see a sad girl who is uncomfortable in her own skin; I see a happy and smiling girl who knows that her life is full of potential and opportunities. You may have forever taken a piece of my heart with you when you left, and you may have temporarily taken away my happiness, but never again will I allow you, or anyone else to do that to me.

I am finally getting to a place in my life where I am content with myself, what I have achieved already, and what I am ultimately going to accomplish; with no thanks to you, of course. So I hope that, wherever you are and whoever you’re currently with, that you are treating them with the respect that you failed to treat me with.

I hope that you learned something from me, the way that I learned something from you. What I hope that you learned is that you cannot tell a girl, or anyone, that they are not good enough. You can’t lie, cheat, and then blame all of your problems on me as if I were the person who caused you to act this way. Newsflash: only you can change your ways, and only you can dictate how you act.

Sincerely,

The Girl Who IS Good Enough