To the ones who tear me down to make themselves feel whole,

You have probably called me every word in the book - to my face, behind my back, to anyone who will listen. You have tried to take the way that the world sees me and run it into the ground. You live with an idea that making me small will make you bigger, better.

I wish I could say I have always been invincible to the daggers that shoot off your tongue, but that wouldn't be true. You've hurt me and you've torn me down more times than I would ever admit to anyone. It took me some time, but I eventually figured out that the words you use to break me don't define me.

I grew tired of being stepped on, I grew tired of being your scapegoat for the other unresolved problems in your life. You can keep pretending like everything is all my fault, but just know that your countless attempts to break my self-esteem no longer cause me to falter. I am strong, and the image of me that you've created in your mind is not the one reflecting back at me when I look in the mirror.

You are fighting a tired, winnerless battle and your little green monster has lost all of its power against me.

Yes, I am angry even though I will never wear it on my face. I don't know what I did do to deserve the treatment that you give me and I have wasted countless hours trying to make sense of something that never will. As much as my mind is drawn towards your negativity, I know that I cannot continue to fuel your fire. Nothing I say to you will ever be "the right thing", so it is just better for me to say nothing at all.

If you truly refuse to see me for the person that the rest of the world does, then fine, I can't change that.

Despite your best efforts to break me, you only made me stronger, so thank you.

Sincerely,

unapologetically,

the truest,

and rawest,

Me