Thank You To The Friends Who Keep Us From Getting In Our Own Way

Thank you for seeing the best parts of me when I couldn’t see them myself.

I don’t know when adulthood taught me to beat myself up. I don’t know how I learned how to doubt my every choice, skill, talent, and move.

But I’m so grateful that I have a friend like you, a friend who strips the doubt out of my mind, my heart, and my soul.

It’s hard to focus on what is right when all you can see is everything wrong—darkness can so easily cloud one’s vision and smother the light.

Thank you for holding up that mirror and telling me to look deeper. It didn’t matter how tired your arms were getting—you held that mirror and refused to put it down until I saw what you have always seen.

Thank you for holding my hand when I was walking through the dark.

Thank you for never hesitating to lend me your flashlight, too.

Thank you for listening to me speak my worries and my fears.

Thank you for telling me to quit believing the lies that I was telling myself, and thank you for reminding me about what is real and true.

When I start to talk about how I’m failing at whatever I happen to feel like I’m “failing at” at the moment, thank you for cutting me off mid-sentence, holding my hand, looking me in the eyes,and telling me that I am too hard on myself.

You shared your awe and amazement of what I was trying to achieve, and that awe and amazement have kept me going.

That awe and amazement have brought me to where I am today.

Thank you for not being shy about your love for me and our friendship. You never hesitate to share words of affection and affirmation. You never hesitate to tell me the truth, even when I don’t want to hear it.

When you tell me to get out of my own way, I know you’re speaking the truth. You’re the friend who always reminds me of what I am capable of and how I can climb the tallest ladder, no matter how scary it seems.

You’re the friend who always reminds me that the tools I need to achieve whatever it is I have set my sights on are within my reach, just as long as I don’t become my own roadblock.

I know in my bones that my dreams are possible because your words are a blend of honesty and love.

Not everyone on this earth is as unabashedly honest with their love. I’m so grateful that you are, and I think the world needs more people like you.

It’s not hard to get in our own way. It’s easy to remain stagnant if we don’t have anyone around us who gently urges us to keep walking forward.

Thank you for taking that walk with me.

Thank you for making my shadow step aside and urging my thriving self to step forward.

Thank you for being my friend.