Fighting an everyday battle is exhausting.

It takes so much out of you.

It claws at your soul and pushes you to the very edge, leaving scars and painful memories in its wake.

If this is you – I know there are days where you just want to completely breakdown. Days where you wonder if you can even find the strength to keep fighting because you're drained.

But you keep it together. You smile and carry on like everything inside of you isn't breaking. You help others without even hesitating to ask for help yourself. You don't want to appear weak. You don't want to seem like a burden. People demand a lot from you, yet you never seem to disappoint them. You bust your you-know-what to appease people who don't even say thank you. You make it look so easy, but I know you're hurting.

Trust me, I understand. I get it.

I was there. I am there.

But, let me tell you something.

You don't see what others see when they look at you.

You don't see the beautiful battlefield you truly are. You show up each day with your messy past and your painful memories, hiding behind your perfectly winged eyeliner and a new shade of lipstick. You hope and pray people won't notice the weary and anxious look in your eyes or hear the trembling of your voice as words escape from your forced smile.

Listen – I'm proud of you for how strong you are. Strength like yours comes in silent battles that people don't know you fight. It comes in tears you either repress or no one knows you cry. It's in nights where you lay awake wondering if there is ever going to be more for you.

While I am immensely proud of you, I want you to understand you don't have to hide your pain, and you certainly do not have to apologize for the way this world broke you, either. You don't have to feel embarrassed about having scars, or doubts, or fears. You may think that they have ruined you, that you aren't enough, that your past experiences took from you and left you lacking, but that couldn't be farther from the truth.

Your past may have built you, but it never reduced you. It never spoiled your potential – it only ever added to it. It only made you stronger, wiser, and more deserving.

I hope you understand that when people see you, they see courage. They see someone who is living and surviving, despite being beaten down. They see someone who is fighting, despite feeling weak.

When people see you, they see a drive and determination that inspires them and a strength that makes them want to fight, too.