We’ve all been there; we've all had that period of our life that crushed us, shattering us into a million pieces. We’ve gotten very close to heartbreak and the tub of ice cream that goes with it. We’ve become very accustomed to having hurt feelings and the fights that inspired them, and we’ve grown used to all the things that appear to be wrong with us, all of our flaws.

Sometimes I think it’s easier to step away from ourselves, because looking too closely might sting a little. It can be overwhelming, realizing that we aren’t even close to our idea of perfect. People tend to avoid things that make us different; things that mark us like a blemish. Our society has created the idea that flaws are undesirable and intolerable. Nobody wants a broken person, right?

Wrong.

It’s okay to be broken; it’s okay to be flawed. The word “broken” is defined as “something that is no longer in working order,” and that’s definitely not you. I know that because if you’re reading this, you’re a whole piece of human being.

Ernest Hemingway once said, “We are all broken, that’s how the light gets in.” Without darkness, how can we see light? It’s important for humans to have flaws and for us to be broken, because without that, we’d never notice the gifts we’ve been given or the things that make us beautiful.

It’s funny how perspective changes over time. When I was five, a bloody knee seemed like the end for me. When I was 12, a broken toe weighed me down. When I reached the age of 16, a broken heart seemed to be the worst way a person could be broken. It makes me laugh, how my view of the word "broken" has changed throughout the years.

Yes, I thought I finally understood what it was to be broken, until I found out what a broken soul felt like. That’s when I really understood.

My life had become a black hole, sucking every breath of life within me, into it. I lost who I was, and I lost track of who I wanted to be. It was then that I understood brokenness, and it was then that I never thought I’d be whole again. It was then, the day my soul broke into a thousand pieces.

I spent hours, days, months, thinking that I was broken, that I could never be fixed, but then I learned something imperative to my life: a secret. I wasn’t broken. I was still a person, still me, lost, but whole. Then I spent a long time thinking about that Hemingway quote. I had felt so alone and flawed. I had felt unwanted. Then, I realized that I wasn’t alone, that everyone has had a moment in their life where they too have felt broken.

This taught me to enjoy the beauty of imperfection. No one is perfect because no one should be. Our brokenness and our flaws are what bind us together as humans. So learn to love your faults and flaws, because you are not alone, but also because they make you unique.