You weren’t there. You don’t know how it’s been, what I’ve been through. How I’ve handled things.
You haven’t seen me grow, progress. You didn’t witness my transformation.
You were gone, and now I’m a whole new me.
Quite frankly, I can’t pin point when exactly I changed. At what juncture, I moved forward.
Maybe it was the years that wore on my body, maturity edging my mind.
Or perhaps, maybe with one tug, or two, or three; the straw finally broke the camel’s back, and I was able to trudge slowly but surely forward.
One step at a time, I made my way.
It didn’t happen all at once, but with many footfalls. At first, I was snail-like, and then, as my feet grew seasoned, I became confident, trusting the road I traveled as the right bringing myself closer to the light.
And I reached where I am at today.
You don’t know me now. I am not the girl I had once been. I don’t even recognize her anymore.
Alright, sure. I know she was me that I was her. But she was a phase, nothing more. A fragment of the woman I was yet to become and have yet to be.
You can quote me all you like. I don’t still think that way. You can list my past grievances and slip-ups. Go ahead, I don’t care.
Those actions are not apart of me, and they’re so far behind me, they can’t phase me anymore.
I’m not in that place. I am not her.
Look at me as I am now because that’s the only person who’s here. Not her. Me.
Learn me anew and respect me for all that I am because what happened in the past, yes, it did shape me. Without, I wouldn’t be here now. But, believe me when I say that who’s present today is the only person who matters, and I’ll only get better with time.
The past has proved just that.
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