Listen closely

You are not what has been done to you.

The wrongs that have been imposed on you, they are not you.
The hurt and heartbreak that others have brought to your life: these things are not you.
The abuse, the anger, the malice that others have sent your way: they are not you.

You are you.
Whole & beautiful & flawed & breathing & still standing despite it all, brave pumping-heart you.

The evil that has come into your life, that has been inflicted upon you: it will not end you.
You do not have to carry that weight.
It is not about you.
It is not you.

You are not what has been done to you. You never were.

Listen closely, carefully to the sound of your one wild and beating heart.
Dance to it’s rhythm and remember why. Why you dance to this pounding drum that lives within you, within your chest, deep within your soul.

This beat, this song, this breath: THIS is you.
Never forget that.