Together We Rise

Your Greatest Days Are Yet to Come

Don’t tell me that love isn’t meant for you, that you’re meant to be alone, that you’re not lovable, or even that it’s too late for you.

None of that is true.

No one – not one of us – is too broken, too old, too lost or too anything else to love ourselves or for someone else to love us.

I know it’s easier to believe all the bad stuff that maybe you’ve heard for so long, but it’s time to break the cycle and change your mindset.

You are lovable.

You are worthy of love ... from yourself and from others.

It’s never too late for love to find you or for you to start a new chapter.

If you’re stuck in the darkness unable to find the light, I’m holding out my hand ...

You can do this.

You’re worth it.

You deserve to be happy, to be loved, to be at peace.

All those things you’ve been telling yourself for so long?

They’re not true.

Let go of the past: it was a lesson, not a life sentence.

Where you’ve been doesn’t define you – the scars, flaws and mistakes only tell part of your story.

Pick yourself up and decide you’re done being a victim, finished feeling sorry for yourself and that you can make the choice to be happy.

I’m not going to tell you that it will be easy or painless, but I will tell you that it will be worth it, every step of the way.

I know you’ve been beaten down, hurt and lied to ... but that’s over now.

I know your heart has been broken so many times you don’t believe love is possible, but it is.

You’ve got a million reasons not to believe in yourself, love or the future, and I get that.

But all it takes is one.

Make a choice.

Stay down or choose to get up and start clawing your way out of the struggle.

Don’t give up, give in or accept defeat ... you’re better than that.

Your best days are still ahead of you ... you just have to start believing ...

In yourself, in love, in hope, in that what I’m telling you is true.

Your best kiss, hardest laughter, deepest love and happiest days are yet to come ...

It may not be easy, but you can do it if you choose to.

So, take my hand and let’s find a way back to the light.

If you don’t believe, take some of my belief ... I believe in you enough for the both of us.

You were meant for more.

It’s time to remember the magic you lost along the way and the dreams you once had.

They’re waiting for you, just around the corner.

Your wings are ready ... dig deep and find your courage.

It’s time to fly, Darling.

Life Is About Moving Forward

I know there are days when you wake up and the whole world seems to be crashing down on your shoulders.

Close your eyes and take a deep breath.

You don’t have to have it all figured out or even know where the day will take you.

There’s always going to be those days when you can’t seem to get anything right and everything just piles up.

You don’t have to conquer it all at once.

Stop focusing on the whole weight of your world and take it one step at a time ...

Baby steps if you have to.

Every one of us is a mess sometimes – we all have moments where we just want to cry – and if you need to, just let it out.

Tackle each thing, job and task one at a time and keep moving forward.

Some days, you’ll feel as though you can do anything and other days, you’ll put your keys in the refrigerator.

That’s just life – some good days, some bad days and some days that make you want to quit.

Don’t.

You’ll never be perfect, but the great thing is ... you don’t have to be.

Don’t put unrealistic expectations on yourself and then let the worry of how you’ll get it all done stress you out.

Most importantly, stop being in a hurry all the time to do all the things and get everywhere super-fast ...

You’ll miss some of the greatest little moments if you’re zooming through trying to conquer life without stopping.

Never get too busy doing and forget to live along the way.

Do the things, get the jobs done, be efficient ...

But more than that, notice the small things: the smell of a fresh morning dew, the beauty of the world around us, the laughter of small children playing.

That’s the stuff of memories that you’ll miss if you’re in a constant task tizzy.

Don’t neglect them – they’re important – but don’t neglect yourself, either.

Take the time to fill your heart and soul with the joy that replenishes you.

So, yes, you’re going to be a mess some days, and sometimes, you’ll be figuring it out as you go ...

Just keep moving forward. Do what you can, how you can, when you can.

Most of all, don’t stop living and enjoying your life.

After all, what good is it to conquer the world if you don’t take the time to enjoy it along the way?

Each day is a new opportunity to start a new chapter.

Keep going ... you’ll get where you need to be when you need to be there.

It just takes a little time, effort and patience sometimes.

You got this.

A Queen Turns Pain into Power

She hasn’t had the easiest life – in fact, it has often brought her to her knees.

While the people she meets would marvel at her strength, they don’t know the struggles she’s endured to become the woman she is today.

Yes, she’s found a way to dig deep and rise above the fire that once threatened to tear her apart.

She still cries in the shower sometimes and fights to keep it together ... but she knows now what it takes to keep moving forward.

There are still days when she battles just to keep a smile on her face, but she’s become used to that – she’s a fighter.

She’s walked through the fire, risen from the ashes and done what she had to do to survive the hard times ...

And she doesn’t regret any of it.

She learned from the toughest challenges what it takes to do more than simply survive.

She wants to thrive and be happy, most of all.

She is done living day to day and heartbreak to heartache.

She’s determined to rise above and find her wings again.

She’s not a princess, a damsel in distress or a starry-eyed girl in search of love.

She’s turned her pain into power and transformed herself into a queen ...

Never settling, accepting no excuses and no longer allowing anyone to mistreat or disrespect her.

She’ll admit that she doesn’t have all the answers and she doesn’t always know what her days will bring ... and she’s more than okay with that.

She’s gritty, courageous and full of zeal.

Maybe she falls and stumbles, perhaps she takes some wrong turns and makes some bad decisions.

But she owns her mistakes and appreciates life in the small moments of beauty that she sees all around her.

To her, strong is the new pretty, and she’s not out to impress or win anyone’s approval.

She’s happy living her best life and spreading sparkle, love and sass wherever she goes.

Oh, and one more thing ...

When they try to call her princess, hot, or sweetheart, she’ll just smile at them and remind them in the most charming way she knows how ...

I think you’re mispronouncing ‘queen,’ Darling.

And with a smile and a wink, they realize that she’s one of a kind.

Queens aren’t born, they’re made.

With her crown forged in the fire, she was born to be great.

I’m Coming Back

I looked in the mirror and exhaled deeply.

It had taken me a long time to get to this point ...

Blood, sweat and tears?

No, so much more than that.

I’d been beaten down, dragged through the mud and thrown into the fire ... and that was just the start.

I made the classic mistakes of giving my heart to all the wrong people in all the wrong ways, and every one of those broken roads cut me a little deeper and taught me a little more …

About who I was, where I’d been and what I wanted.

Sure, I hated having my heart broken time and again, but I would never change a thing about all the wrong turns I’d made.

They led me to exactly where I was meant to be:

Standing here, in front of the mirror, beginning to recognize a person I had lost a long time ago ... me.

I thought by forging an identity in the people I loved and losing myself in them, I’d be happier, and the love would be stronger ...

And it never was.

Turns out, that’s not the way love works.

Real and lasting love doesn’t ask a person to change into something other than who they are, and I’ve finally started making my way back to myself, where I never should have left to begin with.

It’s been a long journey full of bumps and bruises, falls and failures, but I’m finally starting to recognize the person I’ve been trying to find and love all along.

Smiling, I pulled my hair back and swiveled my hips into a fun pose.

Girl, you’ve been gone way too long! Let’s never do that again ...

I laughed loudly and beamed.

Sometimes, you gotta go through the hard times, try to love the wrong people and learn the difficult lessons to find your way.

It’s been hard, it’s been painful, it’s been full of sadness ...

But it’s all been worth it.

I’m on my way home to a better, stronger, happier version of myself, and it’s a great feeling.

I’m turning my pain into power, my struggles into my strength and most of all,

My lessons into reasons.

I needed to turn my setback into my comeback – and here I am, wiser, stronger and with a deeper love of myself than I’ve ever known.

I took one last look in the mirror, grinning broadly.

I sure did miss you, girl. Let’s go remind them world why you’re amazing.

And with a wink and a laugh, I kept moving forward on my journey ...

This time, I’m doing it my way.

The Best Love Makes You Better

When I met you, I thought I had it all worked out.

I knew where I was going and had everything under control ... or so I thought.

Truth is, I didn’t even have a clue.

You turned right into left and upside down into right side up.

You made me want to be better ...

Not just for you, but for me as well.

For both of us, for our relationship, for our future.

You changed what I thought would make me happy and what made me smile.

We talk about nothing for hours and laugh about the silliest things.

Conversations about deep feelings and the hysterical kind of laughter that makes my side hurt from laughing so hard.

You showed me that being the best version of myself is what matters the most –

And what you truly loved about me.

You’re my best friend who thinks my jokes are funny ... even when I know they’re kinda cheesy.

You’re my soulmate who walks beside me in our life, holding my hand every day

You’re my lover who excites me with each kiss and scintillates my soul with every touch.

You’re my daily reminder of how amazing life can truly be ...

When I wake up and see your face smiling at me, it just makes me realize –

You made me believe again ...

In magic, in love and in you.

I wouldn’t change a thing.

I love us for all the things we’ve been, what we are now and what we will always be.

Most of all because you’ll always be mine ...

Forever and always.

A Butterfly with Bullet Holes

They judged her because they thought they knew her – only, they had no clue who she really was.

She was a rare creature who had managed to fly high in spite of all the things that had tried to take her down.

The world would see her failures and her falls, thinking she’d stay down on rock bottom.

What they didn’t know about this woman was that the same fire that had