I had my heart truly broken almost a year ago and now I finally see why a broken heart can change you. Break ups are hard, life is hard, but how are we supposed to learn anything if we don't experience any pain? How are we supposed to know what it's like to be truly happy if we don't know what it's like to be sad? How are we supposed to know how strong we are if we never experience how weak we can feel?

I always thought I was a person who bounces back fairly quickly from the bad shit that has happened in my life and believe me I have been challenged on many occasions. I thought I was the strongest I could ever be when it came to life and what it decided to throw at me. It wasn't until the day my heart was shattered across the floor that I realized how weak I could be.

I gave my whole being to a boy who couldn't care less about how much he hurt me. It was something I had never done before, it was a new chance I was taking. I felt like I always half-assed my relationships and so that time around I was going to give it my all. I did, and I was so proud of myself. In the end, it was a total slap in the face. There I was, literally on the ground asking God, why He was doing this to me. I was broken and lost; I didn't know how I could possibly get out of this pain that drained me all day, every day.

One day, about a month after feeling like total shit but a little more at ease about what had happened, I was ready. I was ready to pick myself back up and start all over again. I knew nothing and no one but myself was going to get me out of this feeling. So, I started to do the work that I needed to to continue my life and be happy again.

That my friends, was a challenge all in itself. I realized that life throws us these curve balls because in the end it shows us what we're really made of. I had no clue how much strength I really had in me, not only to overcome what happened but to also fix myself. There was so much more I had to learn and I wouldn't have known that if that heartbreak didn't happen.

I learned in the process that I am capable of giving my full self to someone, and even though that one person destroyed that opportunity, I will not hold back from giving it to someone else. I learned trust can be broken easily, but there's still good people out there, you just have to surround yourself with them. I learned that I didn't need another person to make me happy, all I need is my self love. Most importantly, I learned that I needed to allow myself to heal. I was so sucked into the pain that I wasn't allowing myself to heal from it all. So, I grew the strength to forgive and accept the situation for what it was. The moment I did that was the moment I opened my heart up and began to heal it.

It's those moments that we're down and broken that create us. The strength you have in you to pick yourself back up and start over is in you, always. When you're down and feel like you can't make it through, in any aspect of life, I promise you one day you will stand up again. It will change you, it will transform you into a person you never knew you had in you.

This is why we all need our hearts broken at some point in our lives. We learn, we grow, and without the bad moments, we wouldn't appreciate the good.