Give Yourself Permission To Love
You have to give yourself permission sometimes—permission to fail, permission to fall for the wrong person, permission to be fearless and maybe not have it all figured out
You’re your own worst enemy. You tell yourself words of negativity. You chide yourself whenever you make a mistake. When you let someone in too soon, you beat yourself up. When you fall for the wrong one, you become guarded and hesitant. You punish yourself for all the ways you’re human.
And not only do you get your heart broken, but you break your own heart, too.
You think there’s something wrong with you when someone walks away. You think you’re somehow unworthy when the connection falls flat. You push down your spirit, telling yourself to speak less, be less, care less until you’re empty and exhausted.
And why? Isn’t this world hard enough without you being your own biggest critic? Isn’t there enough pain and punishment without you inflicting your own? Isn’t life too short to live it miserably, telling yourself that you’ll never be good enough, that you’ll never find someone who’s right for you?
The truth is, you have to give yourself permission sometimes—permission to fail, permission to fall for the wrong person, permission to be fearless and maybe not have it all figured out.
You have to give yourself hope, give yourself joy, give yourself the freedom to make mistakes and share your heart with people. You have to give yourself permission to love, and love fully. Regardless of what may happen or what has gone wrong in the past. Regardless of the doubt holding you back, or the rules this world imposes upon you.
Give yourself permission to love.
With your whole heart, with your entire being, with focus on what could be rather than what might not work out. Without beating yourself up over the past. Without holding on to relationships that fell apart. Without continually telling yourself you’re unworthy or unable or unfit for a real connection.
Give yourself permission to feel something real. To hold another person’s hands in yours and watch the world just slow down. To kiss new lips and laugh at how nervous and imperfect and wonderful it is. To fight and question and learn how to shape your life to fit someone else. To be imperfect, alongside someone else, learning to care and trust and rebuild from the past.
Give yourself permission to experience what makes us human and connected to one another, no matter where we are or have been. Give yourself permission to say too much, be too much, care too much. To fall, fall hard, fall down, and get back up again.
Instead of walking away, step forward. Let yourself open. And love, damn it. Love. 
