I can’t believe how far I’ve come,
how the darkness once felt endless,
how I once believed the weight I carried
was simply the way life had to be.
I was drowning,
adrift in a sea of silence,
forgetting how to shine,
forgetting I was meant for more.
But something in me refused to sink.
A spark—small but fierce—urged me to rise,
to swim toward the light,
to reclaim the joy I thought was lost.
And then, in the glow of my own becoming,
I found love.
Not just in another,
but in myself.
I held my heart tenderly,
healed the wounds that once defined me,
and chose to grow,
to embrace all the light I had inside.
Now, my life is full—not just with love,
but with purpose,
with laughter, with peace,
with the freedom to be wholly,
unapologetically me.
I marvel at the joy in my heart,
the way it spills into every shadow,
the way love, real and radiant,
has found me—because I found myself first.
And I will never take this for granted.
I will never stop choosing joy.
I will never stop being grateful that,
in the vastness of it all,
I became who I was always meant to be.
By Lanya McKittrick
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