One Person I’m Glad I Met

When I first met you, I knew that you feared being selfish. You thought that it was a flaw and that you should not care about yourself because other people possibly have it worse. As our relationship grew, though, I watched you learn to stand up for yourself, to voice your opinion and to fully support your own sense of perception. I’ve seen you working hard, and also taking a step back to breathe.

When I first met you, I realized that you refused to stop until you completed every piece of work you are supposed to do. As I became more familiar with you, I realized that you did not let your work get to your head, that there were times when you closed your books and went out for dinner with friends or just hung out in bed, watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S & enjoying the weirdness of Phoebe Buffay.

When I first met you, I knew you were scared of failure. I knew that you watched every move you made and gave intensive thought to every aspect of your life. But as I came closer to you, I saw you trying to find light in your smaller accomplishments. I watched you try things and fail, only to realize your passion for other things, better things.

I’ve seen you acknowledging the past but living in the present. The past is something that you can not change, and you know it. You taught me to focus on today, to focus on the “me” that I can change, not the “me” that I used to be.

I’m glad that you taught me to love myself. You believed that other people can’t love you if you don’t love yourself, and you were right. Flaws are what make us different. They don’t go away by picking ourselves apart for them. A flower doesn’t grow by picking its petals off. There were moments when you made me believe that self-love is the most important type of love, and once you love yourself, others love you more. It’s hard to do, but it’s life.

To myself, the real me, thank you. Thank you for finding your own place within a world much larger than yourself and for experimenting and risking for almost two decades to be the best you that you can be and to believe that there is always something which is better than the best!