You Don’t Always Have To Be The Sad Girl

Hey sweet pea, I know life sucks sometimes. You’ve probably had your heart broken a time or two, you’ve most likely watched someone you love go through sickness or darkness or God forbid, take their last breath. You’ve been lonely and tired. You’ve been hurt, fallen down, or lost your sense of purpose.

But you don’t always have to bring that baggage with you.
You don’t have to let the hurt take ahold of your heart.

You don’t always have to be the broken girl, the tired girl, the abused girl, the sad girl.

Because you’re not.

You are so many pieces and fragments of this life you’ve lived. You’re everywhere you’ve stepped, each life you’ve touched, every hand you’ve held, all the lips you’ve kissed.

You are sunshine and darkness. You are lessons learned and hearts molded by the softness of your voice. You are strength gathered from the lowest moments. You are purpose discovered through pain.

You don’t always have to be the girl who was let down, the girl who had her heart broken, the girl who was defeated by love, or cheated on, or mistreated by the people she cared for. You don’t always have to be the girl with a shattered past, with a hole in her heart too deep to fill.

You don’t always have to be the sad girl, in fact, you can be free.

You can be free to let go of that pain, of that hurt, of those past situations and the ache they left. You can wipe away the stains, you can bandage the scars, you can heal, you can smile, and you can step forward into newness, into wholeness, into a fresh start.

You can choose to be the girl who smiles, who laughs, who lives openly and without restrictions because she is not defined by her past, and never will be.

Your identity is not formed by what you’ve gone through. Your sense of self is not determined by the pain you have endured. That darkness does not define you, unless you choose to let it.

You don’t have to be the girl who cries, who holds back when it comes to love because she’s been down that road before and crashed. You don’t have to be the girl that sits home in her loneliness, wishing things could be different. You don’t have to be the girl who reads sad stories and compares them to her own. You don’t’ have to be the girl who broadcasts all the reasons she’s sad, hoping someone will save her because she believes she can’t save herself, even though she can.

You don’t have to be the girl who would rather hide in her shell than give the world a chance.

Instead, you can be the girl who smiles. You can be the girl who laughs loudly, who spins wildly on the dancefloor, letting her hair fly around her face. You can be the girl who kisses with abandon, the girl who sings, who skips, who lets her heart beat strong and purposeful in her chest.

You can be the happy girl.

The girl who decides, for herself, to bring brightness to her days. The girl who forgives and allows goodness to grow inside her, and all around her. The girl who finds reasons to be thankful, to celebrate, to live and keep on living, no matter what tries to wreck her path.

You don’t always have to be the sad girl, because honestly, sweet pea, the world’s a more beautiful place when you smile.