Have you ever been so set and focused on achieving goals and becoming who you're "meant" to be, that somewhere along the line, everything feels...bleak? You know without a shadow of a doubt, your heart is still in all your wildest dreams, but life just seems to be getting in the way. Suddenly, you don't know how you'll get to where you need to be. Your faith in the process starts to falter.

Where am I going with all of this?

The thing is, life is full of curveballs, and nothing is guaranteed. You need to take each day for what it is and make the best of it, because you don't know when it will be your last.

Your anxiety is at an all time high, you suffer from constant headaches, body aches, because the stress of failure is weighing so heavily on you. You feel you are disappointing everyone in your life, because you're not doing enough, you're never doing enough, even though you're doing more than you can handle. You're handling it all alone. You don't feel that people need to share in your burden and the pain you feel in your heart.

You bottle things up. You spend most nights with tears in your eyes, because at night; that's when the weight feels almost suffocating, and you can't bear to keep it together for much longer. Life is no longer care-free and fun. Life is a constant battlefield, and you wonder how it got this way.

Now picture a year from now, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years.

Life can change in a blink of an eye, for better or for worse. But one thing that will not change is your fierceness and intensity to win. You can conquer anything you set your mind to. The minor aches and pains of growing into the person and the life you were destined to have is a small price to pay for the incredible story your life holds.

Keep holding on, because you have so much more to give.

Life is about lessons, and we don't stop learning them no matter how old we grow. We are human, we are flawed, we make mistakes. Sometimes our best intentions hurt us in the end. Learn from the bumps and embrace the change in order for your heart and your mind to grow.

Keep your head up, pretty girl. Today is only the beginning.