The Strength in our Scars

Page 117

ONE DAY YOU'RE GOING TO LOOK BACK AND REALIZE JUST HOW FAR YOU HAVE COME

One day you’re going to wake up and your heart won’t
be beating out of your chest for all of the wrong reasons.
One day you’re going to cook breakfast to your
favourite song and you’re not going to feel like the
walls are closing in on you. One day you’re going to
look in the mirror and you’re not going to recognize
the person looking back at you, because you changed.
You changed, and that is the single greatest reality of
moving forward; that is the incredible outcome of surviving
the hardest parts of your journey.

And yes, sometimes life is going to kick your teeth
in. Sometimes it is going to confuse you, sometimes
nothing will make sense and everything will be messy.
But you’re going to learn. You’re going to fight tooth
and nail, and you’re going to grow. Slowly but surely,
you’re going to grow.

You’re going to find your people. You’re going to stay
up until 5 AM on a random Tuesday and talk about
your past with someone who enlivens you. You may
even fall in love. You’re going to go to concerts that
ring truth through your bones and make you feel like
your cells are vibrating. You’re going to stop and stare
at the ocean and you’re going to feel so small, yet so
fucking big, and you’re going to finally, finally, feel
like things are falling into place. You’re going to be
moved by your life. You’re going to feel everything all
at once—you’re going to feel complete.

Trust me when I say that one day it’s going to hit
you—that you woke up happy, that you’re smiling for
no reason, that your hands aren’t shaking anymore.
One day, you’re going to remember what it was like to
be you a year ago, or three years ago, or even a week
ago, and you’re going to be so glad that you fought.
You’re going to be so glad that you kept going.