7. Once I was alone watching TV and the door behind me closed AND locked.
8. Lived out in the middle of nowhere surrounded by woods and corn and wheat fields. I was home alone one night and decided to step out on the porch for a cigarette. I’m about halfway done, take another drag and when I blow out the smoke it rolls around a face about a foot away from me. Needless to say I tossed the cigarette and nopped back inside and locked the doors.
“You are the only person who gets to decide if you are happy or not—do not put your happiness into the hands of other people. Do not make it contingent on their acceptance of you or their feelings for you. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if someone dislikes you or if someone doesn’t want to be with you. All that matters is that you are happy with the person you are becoming. All that matters is that you like yourself, that you are proud of what you are putting out into the world. You are in charge of your joy, of your worth. You get to be your own validation. Please don’t ever forget that.” — Bianca Sparacino
Excerpted from The Strength In Our Scars by Bianca Sparacino.
