hoped you’d make them your savior

but instead

you kicked and fought

against the waves

instead

you taught yourself

how to survive

because you knew

you didn’t need

somebody like them

you knew

the only person

who could save you

was yourself

we have spent lifetimes

trying to make ourselves smaller

trying to quell a flame

not meant to fade to an ember

it has taken us years

to realize that being born

with fire is not a curse

but a blessing

and that we are not

something meant

to be tamed

together

our burning

will destroy the bars

meant to cage us in

our flames

will scorch through the ropes

meant to tie us down

we are just beginning

and we will not let anyone

put us

out

—change is our destiny

to every young person out there who is afraid:

this world will only get better

if we fight for it.

we know what is right.

we know what we must do.

our futures depend on us.

it may sometimes seem to be

an impossible task.

but know this:

we are

so much stronger

than we realize.

—together, we are unstoppable

life is one long

battle of resilience.

we are always recovering

from something while

preparing for whatever’s next.

you compare

women to flowers

as if that makes us weak,

something to choose from

and throw away,

something fragile and temporary.

as if we do not survive

your coldest winters

and harshest summers,

as if we are not more

than what you

think

we are,

as if we don’t

grow back

no matter

how many times

you knock

us

down.

you may

have knocked

me over

punched the breath

from my lungs

but i will never stay

on the ground

i will feel the air

again

and i will rise.

it was a rough day.

you barely left your bed. you hardly ate anything. you cried. you cried until your stomach hurt and your throat burned and your nose was so clogged you couldn’t breathe out of it.

but days—or weeks, or months—like this are nothing to be ashamed of. you are learning this, slowly. it takes a lot to embrace the darker parts of yourself, the parts that aren’t so shiny and pretty. the parts that need to cry, need to lie in bed all day. the parts that need to be alone sometimes.

you can’t ignore them. so the best thing you can do is let them know that you see them and you will give them what they need: an hour to cry. a day to rest. a week to heal.

but at the end of it, you have to get up and keep going. you have to let those parts of you know they are not in charge. you must feel them, experience them, and then keep going. one step at a time.

for that, you know now, is strength: to see the darker parts of your heart, to feel them full force, and to do what you need to do to keep moving forward.