An open letter to my ex-boyfriend.

To the boy I use to love,

I still love you and I always will, but I love myself more. There are so many things that you said to me that I will never be able to forget. Remember the time you told me I should stop eating ice cream because I was gaining weight. For the rest of my life I will struggle with loving my body all because of that one comment you made to me. I can forgive you for all the mean things you said to me, but I will never forget the harmful words you said to me. When I was with you I did not even love myself. Letting you go was the best thing that has ever happened to me. I am happy again and I can love again because the truth is you cannot love others if you do not love yourself. I hope that you are doing good I really do. I always thought you were great because you loved me so much. I learned a lot about love from being with you. Love is not just about how much you love me, but it is so much more. Love should be about loving everyone, and it hurts to know that you do not love others. I will never forget the awful comments you made about others. I honestly thought that I could change you. I am not writing this to talk about all the awful things you did. If we are being honest I did and said a lot of things I am not proud of. I hope that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. Some people just are not good for each other. We were never good for each other. We deserve to find people who bring out the best in us. I learned so many valuable lessons from you. I learned that what I thought I wanted was quite the opposite. Before I met you I thought you were everything I wanted. Even though you are not what I need or want anymore I will always love you. I love that you taught me I deserve far more than you could ever give me. I love that you told me women cannot do the things men could. This taught me that I do not need a man and just look how far I have come. I now know what it feels like to feel powerless just because I am a woman. I now strive to prove that I can and I always aim to be my best self. I no longer have any desire to put other women down. I want nothing more than to empower other women and I owe all the thanks to you. I love the person that you helped me become. I may not love the things you stand for, but it taught me to become a better person. I know that people can change and I hope that you have changed for the better. I will always love you regardless of who you are, but I will NEVER love the hateful things you say to put down others. Though your chapter in my life has closed I will carry a piece of you with me for the rest of my life. I can never thank you enough for helping me become the strong caring woman I am today. Despite everything we have been through I still love you and I always will.