It’s time to forgive yourself for not knowing what exactly you wanted to do after college. Whether you started in the wrong career or you decided to travel the world, whether you went after money or went after your passion. It’s time to forgive yourself for the ‘lost years’ of your youth because that’s how you know what you want, that’s how you learn where you belong and that’s how you eventually find yourself, your calling and the right path for you.

It’s time to forgive yourself for loving the wrong people even if it was very obvious that they weren’t right for you. You believed them, you thought they were genuine, their smile warmed your heart and their story enticed your mind. It’s time to forgive your heart for falling for the ones who broke it. It’s not something you could have predicted nor stopped. You can’t stop your heart from falling.

It’s time to forgive yourself for the things you’ve done when you were sad. The things you said when you were angry or the things you did when you were hurt and it’s time to forgive yourself for how you chose to cope with your pain. Sometimes we’re not prepared for pain and no one told us what to do when we’re falling apart. You can’t teach someone how endure pain, loss and grief. Forgive yourself for hurting yourself while you were hurting.

It’s time to forgive yourself for sabotaging the good things in your life because you didn’t know what to do, you didn’t know how to keep them and you didn’t know how to appreciate them. It’s time to forgive yourself for lacking the wisdom or the knowledge to understand certain things in life. We can’t always know what’s right for us before knowing what’s wrong for us. We can’t always understand life and how to live it.

It’s time to forgive yourself for being human. Learning, evolving, trying, fighting, searching, seeking, surviving and thriving. Before you forgive others, you have to forgive yourself first. You have to forgive yourself for not knowing what’s best for you or the best way to handle certain situations. It’s time to stop reliving the past mistakes and wishing you could turn back time. You can only move forward. You can only heal by letting go of the past and that starts with forgiveness. It starts with forgiving yourself over and over again. Every day and every night. Until you’re free. Until you find peace. Until you learn how to love yourself again.

Rania Naim is a poet and author of the new book All The Words I Should Have Said, available here.