You Are Not Your Past — You Can Move On

I hope this year you stop hurting yourself.

I hope you stop not choosing to eat that burger and fries you’ve been dying to eat. I hope you stop dying at night by endless tears and unrequited love. I hope you stop fantasizing about a boy who will never come back. I hope that you stop looking at yourself like a door mat. I hope you stop accepting the words the world like to throw at your face. I hope you stop paying attention to undeserved labels and destructive criticisms: She’s too young. She’s too shy. She does not deserve that place. She is not worth it. She’s too immature. She has nothing to say. She’s too big. She’s too small. She’s too fat. She’s too skinny. She’s too silent. She’s too loud. I hope you stop chewing, digesting, and making these words part of yourself because no one can define who you really are. I hope this year you stop begging for love that will never really come. I hope you stop staring at your phone longer than you should be,  that you stop waiting for a call that is never meant to be yours, and that you stop waiting for those three words. I hope you stop looking for your happiness from other people. I hope you stop defining happiness based from the hours your loved ones can spend with you, based from the promises they can tell to you, and based from the smiles they can paint at your lips because no matter what happens, no matter how hopeful you can be that they will stay forever with you, there will come a time that you have to deal with solitude and be truly fine even when there’s no one around.

I hope you stop looking at your past because you are not your past. You are not your pain. You are not your wounds. You are not your sin. You are not ‘your’ mistakes. You are not a mistake. I hope you stop being afraid. I hope you stop holding back. I hope you stop burying all your ideals and your lovely thoughts. I hope you stop choosing silence over self-expression. I hope you stop sitting down when you’ve been dying to stand up and speak your voice out. I hope you stop being afraid to say that the government sucks, that the system sucks, and that oppression sucks. I hope you stop being afraid to bullies. I hope you stop succumbing to their egotistical self. I hope you stop crawling at your bed and drowning yourself with the pain they put on you. I hope you stop nodding and start fighting because no one can stop them but you.

I hope you stop hurting yourself and start accepting who you are. Our society has become so messy that it wants us to be messy as well. It has become so busy proving to the world that we’re civilized but staying on its business of judging people based from their color, race, length of skirt, shade  of lipstick, sexual orientation, number of social media followers, filters used in Instagram, grades and academic honors, accomplishment, brands and products used, tattoos, and all other mundane criteria that has nothing to do with who we really are–our personality, our ideals, our behavior, our dreams, our wishes, our plans, our souls, our mind, and our hearts.

I hope you stop hurting yourself and start taking care of your heart. Now is the right time. Don’t prevent yourself from blooming. Now, now, now.