To be human is to understand that life is going to meet you with circumstances that will bury you deep within yourself, with things that will hurt to acknowledge, with people who will fumble with the way you feel so deeply. And to be human is to understand that life is going to meet you with opportunities that make your chest well with gratitude, with things that will make you want to live again, with people who will hold even the most damaged parts of who you are and kiss them softly, folding them back into you a little less bruised, and a little less broken, than they were before.

To be human is to understand that you have the capacity to be the person you have always hoped to be, that you don’t have to surrender yourself to the person you were when you were navigating your sadness, or your confusion, or how lost you felt in this world. To be human is to understand that you don’t have to hang your mistakes along your spine — you are strong enough to forgive them, to do the hard work, to confront what is heavy within you. To be human is to understand that you are strong enough to set it all down, to let it go, to call it by it’s name so it can no longer control you.

To be human is to understand that happiness isn’t a constant. But to be human is to understand that neither is sorrow, or grief, or heartache. To be human is to feel it all, to welcome the lessons that come with the dark days, to welcome the softness that comes from the lightness of what saves you. To be human is to try, with every inch of your patchwork soul, to be proud of who you are. To care. To heal. To be your own home, even on the days you don’t like yourself, even on the days where it doesn’t come naturally. To be human is to grow in the ups, and to grow in the downs. So keep growing. Keep growing.