Fall in love with yourself. Our relationship with the one in mirror is the trickiest of all, at times breaking-up can sound pretty nice.
Yet when anxiety creeps into the safe spaces of our mind, our sweaty palms grapple for
each other.
Love the body which loves you. Your hands were not given to you to, to pinch at your stomach and your thighs, poisoning your mind with lies that you are not good enough.
So build something beautiful with them.
They ache to wipe a tear from the eye of another, to come to the defense of a brother, to discover
That they are connected to arms which are good for holding your friend as she is folding under the weight which she can no longer bear alone. Lift her up.
Your heart allows you to see through the lens of another when your eyes cannot: empathy. Dance to the beat of your heart, breathlessly.
Don't look to the counterfeit persons on the magazine cover to define your standards for what you should be, "based off of a true story" is what they should read.
No, you know that beauty is humanity. Raw and unedited. It is stretch marks. It is wrinkles. Curves, lines, woman, man. It is exquisite.
There is no expiration date for beauty, no perfect mold for our shape.
I want you to sing baby because when you speak, the world cups its hand to its ear, to hear. Yes, your voice may be small, but never forget the way the earth quakes at its vibration.
And when they try to cram you into their boxes, silence your sound, you will sing your song even louder
Because you want to live like the wildflowers grow, you know
That you were made from the matter of the stars, that stories of hardship yet perseverance line your bookshelves- memoirs.
And when even you call yourself wasted breath, let me remind you that you leave others breathless.
Love I know that sometimes the world may not accept you, but this is all the more reason for why you need to.
If those toxic thoughts arrive, you tell them to talk to the hand so that they can see the callouses from where you have already overcome them.
And sweetheart, when your shaking palms become the support for your head, when your courage lays down with the sun, know that your resilience rises with the moon and you'll be back on top of the world in no time.
Get to know yourself, take yourself out on dates, pick up the tab, romance yourself. Look in the mirror and tell the one staring back that you love them. But until you can do that, know that I do.
