47 Former Players Reveal Exactly How One Special Girl Changed Them For Good

By Thought Catalog,
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Unsplash / Miguel Runa

29. “When I met my future wife, she was waiting tables and I was an asshole who thought he was above dating waitresses. I was young and dumb and handsome as fuck and I had a ‘good’ job. So my social life consisted of fucking a different girl every week, after taking them each to the same neighborhood spot and then suggesting a nightcap back at my place. One night when my latest fuck buddy went to the bathroom during dinner, I caught myself staring at our waitress and it hit me that she was the reason I’d been going there so often. It was amazing, how hard she worked and how she handled all the asshole customers like me with such grace. I wanted to be with her, so I stayed behind that night to ask her out and I pledged to give her the respect she deserved. We’ve been together ever since.”

— Philip, 31

beetlejuice

Trace the scars life has left you. It will remind you that at one point, you fought for something. You believed.

Trace the scars life has left you. It will remind you that at one point, you fought for something. You believed.

“You are the only person who gets to decide if you are happy or not—do not put your happiness into the hands of other people. Do not make it contingent on their acceptance of you or their feelings for you. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if someone dislikes you or if someone doesn’t want to be with you. All that matters is that you are happy with the person you are becoming. All that matters is that you like yourself, that you are proud of what you are putting out into the world. You are in charge of your joy, of your worth. You get to be your own validation. Please don’t ever forget that.” — Bianca Sparacino

Excerpted from The Strength In Our Scars by Bianca Sparacino.

Trace the scars life has left you. It will remind you that at one point, you fought for something. You believed.

Trace the scars life has left you. It will remind you that at one point, you fought for something. You believed.

“You are the only person who gets to decide if you are happy or not—do not put your happiness into the hands of other people. Do not make it contingent on their acceptance of you or their feelings for you. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if someone dislikes you or if someone doesn’t want to be with you. All that matters is that you are happy with the person you are becoming. All that matters is that you like yourself, that you are proud of what you are putting out into the world. You are in charge of your joy, of your worth. You get to be your own validation. Please don’t ever forget that.” — Bianca Sparacino

Excerpted from The Strength In Our Scars by Bianca Sparacino.

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