These past few months have been complete and utter madness. Friends have come and gone. I've gone through things I never thought I would have to. I had to handle myself with grace, as people talked about me. I had to communicate more than I had previously with more difficult discussions and ideas. I had to stand up for myself repeatedly.

More importantly, now that I have pushed out all of the toxic and unneeded drama and guilt out of my life, my confidence is slowly increasing. I looked back at pictures I convinced myself I looked ugly in and found myself thinking they made me look beautiful. I look in the mirror now, and although I don't absolutely love the way I look, I also don't hate it.

You see once I put aside all the negativity and started looking at everything I had, I realized how strong I actually am.

Never again, will I think that I am undeserving of love or unworthy of a wonderful life. I deserve to feel accepted and that is exactly how I feel now.

I was so blinded with fear that a certain group of "friends" would not approve of every little thing I did, every piece of clothing I wore, every word that came out of my mouth; that I did not realize my true worth.

I remember at one point, right before I cleansed myself of the toxicity these friends provided me with, they started to ask me why my self-esteem was so low or how I do not know my worth. Unlike so many of these friends, I do not like to play the blame game, so I did not let them know just how much they had deteriorated the way I looked and felt about myself. This will cease to happen as of now.

I AM WORTHY, AND I AM CONTINUING TO GROW.

Although I always seem to put a disclaimer in my articles about how I am not meaning to be rude or disrespectful. I will NEVER again apologize for my appropriate emotions and feelings EVER again.

As I am working my way into being a confident woman, I will no longer put up with any drama I do not need to be a part of.

As I said earlier this month, my goal for this year is self-growth and self-love. I am going to focus on what is best for me. I have not felt this free in a VERY long time and I am entirely ready to live my life to the fullest starting now.