You blessed me with hope when we first met. My eyes full of wonder and excitement, you were everything I didn’t know I needed or wanted, but you opened my mind and my heart to the possibilities of love and peace and enlightenment.

Things escalated quickly. It was a rush of emotions I’d hidden away for no one to find, least of all myself. I trusted, I let go, free for you to mold me as you saw fit.

But I let go of too much, and you insisted I give more, so I gave all I had. All I had until I didn’t know myself any longer.

Who is this person in my body? Why do I feel so removed from myself, not able to move forward, not able to find my way back?

Then you delivered the devastating blow that would send me running, and somehow as I ran, I came across myself, lonely and afraid, but full of hope wanting desperately to find a new path, with bravery as my new friend, determined to live a better life without you.

And so the sun sets on our time together, but despite that ending I choose to exalt in the new me, filling MYSELF with wonder and excitement, knowing that I don’t need you to be free or happy. My heart and my eyes are open, and they’re looking to the future. A future where I call the shots and move forward with a renewed sense of peace and love.

Goodbye 2017. I’ll always remember you, but may our paths never cross again.

~Daneen