To The One Who Has Lived Before

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to the one who is tired

You've come so far from the beginning.

You've grown from the one who was willing to sacrifice happiness for education to the one who refuses to let anyone get in the way of her emotional health. You've left the shell of the girl who listened to everything her parents say to the butterfly of the girl who questions everything her parents say. You are no longer a child, but a young woman.

You have earned the right to rest.

After waking up at 5 in the morning almost every day since February, and after enduring emotional and mental distress, and after denying yourself the time to cry and sleep and do what you needed to heal yourself from the world that threw you to the ground, you have earned the right to rest.

You have four more days to go. You have finals and a few more things to finish, but after all that, you will be done. You will have survived the school year, despite what the voices in your mind have told you before.

You told yourself you couldn't do it. You skipped days of school, you let go of the cares and the worries of work and studying. You even wished for death at times.

But here you are. You've made it.

You are not weak. You are not lazy. You are not what they've told you, you are not what they think.

You've survived the education system's thickest jungle.

All you need to do is pass your finals and get out. Do whatever you need to do. Laugh because you made it. Cry because you had to say goodbye. Scream because you hate your family. Cry again because you love your family. Throw your binders, papers, old work and useless things in the recycling. Be happy, because you made it.

I will be right there with you.

the one who lives now