Dear new me,

You saw the calm breeze ripple the water of the ocean resting just below your fingertips. The cool air reminded your skin of the simple pleasure that was simplicity. The sky, a mellow blue, entranced your mind until it became clear that happy was the only way to be in a world full of angry storms.

A bright sun soothed the spirit and warmed the rest of your body. For a long time, you were floating on a soft layer of contentment. This feeling, this image, this moment, was etched in your mind before you began to stray.

You didn’t know you were walking away until you got too far. The farther you went, the stronger the environment surrounded your mind with blistering heat after a numbing cold. For a while, you strayed so far that you mistakenly associated the boiling temperature for paradise and the icy cold for a break from the heat.

There were drastic ups and downs that swept you up in chaos and confusion--a tornado of disorientation threw you in the air. This unhealthy misconception of your awareness made you forget that there is a beautiful in-between and that real happiness is possible.

You’ve grown so much in the past few months; going through a period of heartbreak, you came out stronger.

Within an instant of deciding what is right for YOU, your thunderous anxieties cleared into a gracious sky where the sun reveals a path to true happiness.

You reconnect with your soul and the souls of those who you’ve isolated yourself from. You remember what it is to be free after letting go of the control that weighed you down.

After running for miles, you’ve made it.

Once again, you lay in the sand surrounded by bliss. The smooth water caressing your skin like a blanket of familiarity. You’re now, finally, back to your roots.

And for that, you have grown.

I am saying goodbye to the old me that let anxieties and negativity crowd her spirited emotions. I am letting go of the girl who lost track of who she was in the whirlwind of somebody else. I am embracing a new me, who remembers who she will always be.