A letter to my daughter: on being hurt

Someday, my darling, you will be hurt.

You are human, and you are sensitive, and you are mine, so most likely in some way you already have been hurt. Hurt in a way you'll always remember. It's a sad reality. It's hard for me, as your mother, to accept that it's also a sad necessity.

You have to be hurt.

You have to know what the end feels like, to properly appreciate the beginning and the middle.

You have to know what fear of losing something is. Otherwise you'll never know whether or not you've got something to lose.

You have to be lied to, left alone, treated less than your worth, in order learn to use your eyes, listen to your heart, and know when you're being lead on. Know when you're being mistreated. Know what you are worth.

The thing to remember though, is that you have to keep going.

You have to keep your heart tender, and your mind open, in order to ever find the person that will love you the right way.

Being vulnerable is terrifying, once you've been hurt.

You know the risk, you know the odds. 

But really, there is nothing better in the world than allowing another person into your soul and discovering that they were meant to be there. 

Keep sharing your heart, even if it's been broken.

Keep letting people in, even if you've let the wrong ones in before.

Keep loving, even if you've lost everything.

Every relationship can't have a happily ever after.

We all want that.

But really, only one can.

There can only be one forever, and it's going to take a lot of endings to find that.

There will be pain in those goodbyes, and sometimes in many of the moments leading up to it.

But there will be beauty.

There will be sacrifice.

There will be power, and passion, and lessons learned.

There will be memories that are worth no less, even if they all lead up to heartbreak.

You will get hurt.

But I hope you keep trying anyway.