This was a letter sent to me by one of my sorority sisters, Makenzie Barnes, who asked me to share this with you. Once I read through her letter, I knew it was special. I have never been in a relationship where it has so completely ripped me apart that I lost sight of who I was, but I've seen close friends go through it. Unfortunately, a lot of people have also experienced this horrible feeling, and I know the saying, "it'll get better with time" gets old pretty fast. So I propose a new saying," it'll get better with the right people."

If you’ve ever been so in love with someone that you lost sight of yourself, then you know exactly what I’m talking about. People who have been hurt in the past know that when it comes to relationships, things can get messy and difficult. The aftermath makes us reluctant to trust again, our self-esteem is shot, we overthink every little thing, and most importantly, we constantly wait to be hurt again rather than enjoying new relationships and new people. This is a thank you to the person who, despite all of those things, helped me find myself again.

Thank you for being willing to see past all of my flaws.

A lot of the time, people come with a lot of baggage and most of the time its not easy to handle. Despite all of that, you still took the time to look past those flaws and really get to know me. I mean the real me. You saw past the perfect mask that I had constructed, and where no one has really been willing to look past all of my insecurities and wanted to know more, you did.

You healed me with your curiosity.

Thank you for making me open up about things even when I didn’t want to.

There are reasons behind all of these insecurities. It’s usually not reasons that many people know, and it definitely isn’t something I was very willing to share. Getting me to open up was probably exhausting and disappointing most of the time, but that didn’t stop you from trying to get me talking. You even opened up to me and trusted me, which gave me all the more reason to open up to you.

You healed me with your courage.

Thank you for continuing to listen when you finally did get me to open up.

Once you cross the line of opening up, there’s no telling what’s coming next. Once we are comfortable enough to share our secrets, just about everything else that’s wrong with us comes spilling out too. You listened patiently and throughout all of the complaining, you made sure I knew you were on my side, but you also made sure I was seeing both sides to every story. That let me know that you were really truly listening, not just agreeing with everything that I said, and I truly appreciate that.

You healed me with your patience.

Thank you for backing up your words with your actions.

Being told something and being shown something are two completely different things. It makes it a lot easier to trust someone when their actions actually match the words that are coming out of their mouths. A lot of the time you don’t even have to say anything because your actions speak for themselves.

You healed me with your honesty.

Thank you for believing in me, especially when I didn’t believe in myself.

I’ve never had anyone take the time to actually make me believe in myself. It’s always “You can do it” and little sayings like that being said to me, but no one ever told me why they believe in me, or actually made me believe it. You made me believe it for myself before saying those words of encouragement, so when you did say them it actually meant something.

You healed me with your support.

Whether it be a relationship, a friendship, or something you’d rather not put a label on, thank you for being that person to help me realize who I am again, and that who I am is good enough. You were never asked to go that extra step, and whether or not you even realize everything you’ve done for me, I couldn’t be more thankful that you were put in my life.