“Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls my life.”

Celebrate yourself for being a woman because before anyone sees you for who you really are, they see you as a woman. They will try to make it your weakness. It is up to you to make it your strength.

“I’ve survived a lot of things, and I’ll probably survive this.”

“Don’t be a fool. Don’t give up something important to hold onto someone who can’t even say they love you.”

“I didn’t need to be with someone different. I just needed to be someone different.”

“You either like me or you don’t. It took me twenty-something years to learn how to love myself, I don’t have that kinda time to convince somebody else.”

“Life almost seems impossible when you’re 19 and you have no sense of direction yet those around you seem to be happier or appear to be achieving more. Society puts such an emphasis on particular milestones and a time for which they should be achieved: learn to drive, get a degree, work 9 to 5 until you’ve saved enough for a house, have kids and get married. But life is so much more than just living for the weekend. Who are you? What makes you happy? Who makes you happy? What makes you want to get out of bed in the morning? These are the only questions that truly matter in life. You don’t have to take the same path as everyone else or that everyone expects you to take. If you aren’t happy, switch paths because despite what society tricks you into believing, there is no time constraint for following your dreams. One day when you’re old and you look back on your life, how much money you earned and all the nice things you owned aren’t going to matter. It’s the simplistic things- like warm chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk in front of the TV on a cold November night when the rain is hammering against the window. It’s going for a walk at 7pm with a friend despite how exhausted you are from work because they need you. It’s the very moment you make someone splutter with laughter as they cry. It’s crunchy autumn leaves and fluffy socks and oversized woolly jumpers. It’s feeling the sun on your bare skin. It’s taking your shoes off at the beach and wiggling your toes into the sand. It’s the cleansed feeling after a good cry or a long hot bath brimming with bubbles. It’s making a baby smile when someone else didn’t manage to get the same reaction. It’s admiring the sky for all its chalk; a spread of baby blue and fluffy clouds that blend together. It’s lying on a blanket and looking at the stars at 1 a.m while most of the world is asleep. It’s the chaos of fireworks and falling in love and getting up early to surprise your significant other with pancakes in bed. It’s extra tight hugs and the simplicity of holding hands. It’s believing in your dreams and your capability to achieve them despite the plan society or other people seem to have pinned out for you. Everything you want and the person you want to be is waiting for your embrace. Never let anyone dictate your life choices: do what makes you happy.”

“They said not to look back from the things that caused you so much pain but then you looked back because the emotional part of you is always like that but It’s okay, you need to. Somewhere between the distance and the steps you need to conquer, you have to stop and look back. See what happened. Because healing is not always about forgetting what you let go, it’s about accepting what you have done. Accept and move forward again. It’s not easy but that’s how it is. Someday you will turn around to whatever degrees or angle and you’ll feel okay than ever. Recovery is not a myth anyway. You’ll just have to keep trying. So don’t be afraid to look back because that’s how you can see you’re moving too. And I am proud of your every steps no matter how many centimetres you can only travel in a short time, You’re still doing great. You’ll be okay.”