I was raised by a very warm, caring mother who taught me to live my life through the means of love - to love every thing I see and every person I meet. I have been told I am “too nice”, “too sensitive”, “too soft” for the world - as if people think I don’t believe that it holds anything bad. The truth is, I have had more than my share of toxic relationships with toxic people, but I learned how to not let them poison me. I have felt the earth crumble right out from under my feet, but I grew the strength to stand my ground. I wasn’t always this way. I experienced heartbreak at a very young age and I began to hate because of it. I have been angry, and distant, and demeaning. And the only thing I have learned from it was once you’ve been in a place like that, you never want to go back.

It is natural for us to put up our defenses when we feel we have been threatened. We are willing to risk anything in order to protect ourselves, even if it is by returning harm to the other person. You have every right to do what you have to do in order to make a safer and happier place for yourself. Stop waiting for people who never come around. Protect your heart from those who are reckless with it. Don’t talk to people who make you feel bad for the way things make you feel. But don’t hate them. Please, do not hate them.

Somebody told me once that sometimes people are cold because they are really hurting. This world can be a very toxic place that takes a major toll on the people we are. So maybe it is possible that the person who hurt you was once hurt by somebody else, and what they did to you was just a reaction from a long chain of broken heartache. I am begging you, break the chain.

You are tender, and loving, and so, so much fun. Don’t let your bitterness take that away, because it will eat you alive if you let it. Forgiveness is one of the hardest things to learn, but is the most essential for your happiness. Hate is a weight on your heart where, if kept there long enough, will never go away. Choose to be light-hearted.