Writing to Myself

To whom it may concern,

I used to write to people

Who had real meaning in my life

Until I started realizing

That they were causing me my strife

There were those who had to parent

The ones that were never there

The one who worked so hard so we could have it all

The one who didn't work a day but never gave herself to us

The ones that were the adults of friends

Who took me in

But then I owed them loyalty

Loyalty to people who did not open their minds

Loyalty to the small-minded people

Was torture in it of itself

The ones that were just educators

They never knew just how much they influenced me

They never knew that they reminded me of joy

They never knew

Just how much they gave me

That no one else had tried to

There were those who had to befriend

The ones who were jealous

Calling me weird

Calling me a burnout

Calling me useless

Calling me names

That would have affected me

if I did not have a book and paper in hand

to write about my pains

The ones who did not understand

With too many happy memories

And too much pity to give

They weren't in my same mindset

The ones who had gone through it all

Who believed my fights to be small

And although they were small

It was not them who should have told me

They told me their experiences

They made a drama

Thinking that the pain they felt was superior

The list could go on

But then I started writing to myself

And things started looking up

Because I know who I am

I am proud of who I am

I recognized the people who were toxic

Who I thought I needed because society told me to

I realized by talking to myself that I was not crazy

I was simply someone who needed a friend to talk to

Who could listen and tell me to push through

Because that's what I did.

"Nevertheless, she persisted."