I spent years believing unconditional love was something you gave everyone else. Then I discovered the person I’d forgotten to include was me. Healing didn’t teach me to become someone worthy of love—it taught me to love the woman who had been here all along.

Healing doesn’t mean you stop feeling anger. It means you become aware enough to choose who answers next.

I thought I was grieving the end of a relationship. What I was really grieving was the life that was never mine to begin with.