Pack Mule

there once was a girl that was separated from her family at a young age

not physically but emotionally

she found solace in stories and games, places no one would find her.

and so she buried herself in them

she avoided others because they avoided her

she had new parents, she had a new family

but no matter how many people told her that they loved her

she wouldn’t believe them

she couldn’t trust her emotions with other people because she had spent her entire life trying to hide them.

she had seen others be sad and tucked their sadness under her heart just so they would be happy again

she liked to see other people smile

she likes to see other people laugh

even if it costed her own happiness

but she made friends

friends with people that wanted to hear her problems and she couldn’t believe it

she couldn’t believe there were others like her

that only cared to see people happy and weren’t afraid to sacrifice themselves to see it.

she was so relieved. she wasn’t alone.

after spending her entire life being a pack mule, hanging onto emotional baggage for others

she could finally let it go and ship it off, never to be handled by her again.

but she felt guilty.

she didn’t want them to be the same way she was because she knew the pain

she knew the sadness

she knew the loneliness

so she continued her job, holding others baggage but let others hold hers

with time, she grew to deal with her own problems

she learned to release that emotional baggage for good

and my god, was it a wake up call

I found true happiness

because I let others show me the way.