Above All Else, I Hope You Stop Doing These Things

Stop accepting excuses for bad behavior thinking that one day it will change. It has been said that when someone shows you who they are, you should believe them the first time. That is not to say that people cannot grow. But when someone hurts you, when they disrespect you, when they disregard you, time and again, that is not love. You deserve to be heard and seen and cared for—well.

Stop making yourself small to make other people feel more comfortable. The people who are going to judge you are going to judge you no matter what you do. The people who are going to judge you are going to judge you because they’re too afraid to live big themselves. Playing small helps no one, least of all yourself. You are the only you there is, you are the only person who has your gifts; you are here to share them. You are here to live out loud. You are here to live large.

Stop settling for less in hopes that one day it will become more. Our time here is precious and life is often too short. You are worthy and you are worth being shown up for. You are worthy of a mad kind of magic, you are worthy of something as wild as it is pure. You are worthy of the best—you are worthy of everything.

Stop giving your big love to people who don’t earn it. Your love is not a toy for people to play with and come and go as they please. Your love is not a free thing that everyone gets to take a slice of whenever they want. Your love is brave and brilliant and powerful and invaluable and the only one of its kind in the world; you deserve someone who recognizes that. You deserve what is raw and real—you deserve to be deeply loved.