When you’re the girl who is always there for others — you feel a lot. You have depths within you, an ocean for a heart, and you keep falling for people who are too scared to swim. You give and you give and you give; tearing pieces of your paper soul into the smallest of fragments just to set someone else aflame.

You hurt. My god, do you hurt. You ache, wondering if someone will ever give you the love you so freely give to others, wondering if there will come a time when someone asks how you are doing, how you are coping, how you are healing.

And when that doesn’t happen, you heal yourself. You find strength in things other than people. You find energy in your solitude, you find hope in your daydreams. You build yourself up, tell yourself that you don’t need anyone to save you, that you don’t need anyone to steady your foundation.

But you do.

See, sometimes the girl who is always there for everyone else, needs someone there for her. Sometimes, the girl who smiles the biggest holds the biggest hurt. Sometimes the girl who is always the person who wipes the tears of others, goes home and cries lakes into the midnight hour. Sometimes the girl who encourages everyone around her needs to be told that she is appreciated, that she matters; sometimes she needs to be encouraged herself.

So, if you’re the girl who is always there for others, know that your heart is rare. Know that you hold within you an ability to calm storms in people, a beautiful gift that has relieved sore eyes and hurt minds. Know that you give people hope, that you inspire them by acknowledging the pieces of them most ignore, that you make people feel wanted, that you make people feel like they have purpose.

However, also remind yourself that you are not invincible. Your heart needs rest. You need rest. Remind yourself that you do not need to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, that you may not be able to save everyone, that you may not be able to heal every hurt. Remind yourself that you deserve to take all of the energy you put out into the world and invest it back into yourself from time to time. That you are worthy of the love you keep giving to everyone else. Remind yourself, that you don’t always have to be strong, that you don’t always have to be the fixer. Remind yourself that you can be human, that you can ask for help; that you don’t always have to be the one to save yourself.