“And you are someone who has walked through a bunch of rainstorms and kept putting one foot in front of the other. And I think… I think that I keep learning every day, but after learning for 25 years, the one thing I do know is that pain does make you a stronger person. And I do know that walking through a bunch of rainstorms, and continuing to put one foot in front of the other, makes you clean.” -Taylor Swift

You had me hanging on a thread, too scared to let myself go. Rushing memories combined through my mind of you and me once ago- I was the girl who got too comfortable in a relationship. Everything seemed like fate and nothing was going to break that.

And after the walls have been broken, and us becomes just you. You go to bed every single night, going over every single detail, wondering what you could have possibly done wrong. Your heart drops, and you begin to feel as small and as humanly insignificant as possible, and the heartache begins to ache in places you didn't know you had in you.

The storm is still harsh but you know there's bound to be an end to this pain come time and acknowledge your self-worth. First loves, I compare to hurricanes. They come out of nowhere and you honestly never think it’s going to have an expiration date. So you stay put. Next thing you know the wind is roaring, shingles on the roof are flying off, and by the time you realize how bad it actually is, you’re in the eye of the storm and there’s no way out.

You realize the only way out of this thing is through. The storm passes and suddenly you are left to pick up the pieces, of all that has been left behind. But the true beauty isn’t the loud silence the day after, but rather that you survived it.

That’s what it feels like getting over someone, who came in like a Stage 5 hurricane. You feel like you’ve survived in a way.

You look back at it all and this person, who once had you on speed dial. They told you to jump, and you said how high. They had you attached to strings almost, like a puppet, controlling every move. But then, it’s like you cut yourself free of their grip.

And at first it’s scary. How do you even function without this person who played such a profound part of your life? Because storms are never all bad, it’s the good things you hold onto, when the wind comes roaring and it’s dark.

But then you see yourself making it. You see yourself not looking back, but instead looking forward. You realize you aren’t defined, by this one relationship, but rather every other good relationship you have to come and in your life.

Because one day when the storm is over and the mess is cleaned up, with the help of your loyal friends, you’ll rise again. And maybe then, you’ll realize what you deserve and that it was never that.

You find yourself not crying yourself to sleep, for the first time in a while. You sleep through the night without seeing them in your dreams. You wake up and they aren't your first thought. You look at pictures and it no longer hurts.

And if you aren’t there yet, if you still think you need this person to function, and you can’t imagine your life without them, just keep going. You’ll get there. You’ll stand on your own two feet, stronger because of it.