It’s Your Life

Your life shouldn’t be about
who hurt you,
or what broke you,
or how deeply you were wounded,
or how quickly you wiped away the tears.

But about how you cared for yourself anyway,
how you stood up when it was hardest to,
how you kept finding something to love in yourself,
how you refused to let the scars
take center stage.

Your identity is not stitched from grief alone —
it’s the whole of you,
not just the clobbered corners
or the aching bits,
but the bold, breathing whole of you.

Your life, my dear,
holds all of it —
the bruises, the breakthroughs, the beauty.

Don’t treat your life like a grievance book,
let it reflect your story —
the messy, radiant, real one.

Only you can make sure it tells the truth.
Only you hold the pen.
Only you choose the ending.

Because, my dear,
it’s your life.

This piece is written in response to the two hundredth and sixtieth edition of Fiction Monday inspired by the word prompt – HURT hosted by yours truly. Do join in if you have a tale to tell.