Sometimes, I cringe scrolling past old photos,
My past selves smiling back at me,
Wanting desperately to be liked,
I withhold my affection from their pleasing stares,
Scroll past without glancing at them,
Trying to disown them or pretend they didn’t exist,
Why am I so hard on them?
Expecting them to have known better,
Like they should’ve been perfect,
As though I’m perfect now,
It’s not fair to punish those women,
I should be thanking them,
For teaching me the lessons I know now,
They were brave enough to live through it all,
To take the hits and keeping getting back up,
To love, to care, to try new things,
They always tried their best,
My past selves made me who I am today.
–
Recently, I was looking through old photos and I saw my past selves in a different light than I am used to.
Instead of dwelling on the mistakes that I had made, I found myself celebrating the journey and all of the experiences I’ve had along the way.
I could see the light shining within even when the times were tough.
That’s worth stopping and looking at.
