Dear you,

The reader. The person behind the screen who’s suffering unimaginable pain unnoticed by those around her. The person who needs to know that someone is listening to her. The person who feels lost, scared, and unsure of what her future holds.

This is for you.

You deserve love.

You deserve to feel something so powerful. You deserve to wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. You deserve to see the sunset sitting across from the love of your life. You deserve a gentle love; the love you’ve searched for your entire life.

You deserve self-love.

No one can love you like you can. Just think about it. All the times you’ve survived, all the struggles you’ve faced, all the pain you’ve fought through: you were on your own. You weren’t fighting for someone else, you were fighting for you. You have so much love for yourself, or else you wouldn’t have put up such a fight. Take the time to show yourself how thankful you are.

You deserve the best.

You deserve everything this world has to offer, to experience everything beautiful you’ve ever dreamed of. Life isn’t just in storybooks, darling, it’s out there. Be present.

You deserve to get better.

You deserve to free yourself from the chains your body has placed over you. You are more than what you face. In fact, you are better and stronger for it. You are brave, and brilliant, and everything you ever do in this life will be thanks to all the strength that your struggles have given you. You deserve to heal. Keep saying it until you mean it.

I did not deserve to be treated like I didn’t matter.

In fact, you deserve the opposite. You do matter. You matter so much that the world can’t find a lens powerful enough to view you. You are brighter than the stars, my love, and you do matter.

I did not deserve to be hurt, even by myself.

Say it over and over again until you mean it: I deserve to be loved, I deserve to be loved, I deserve to be loved.