An open letter to the past me: Your worth is not determined by how people treat you

Krista+Staley

Krista Staley

There are days that I find myself thinking about you and my heart begins to ache.

I hurt for you, profusely.

The way you so willingly put the well-being of others before yourself, even those who treated you terribly, makes me wonder why you allowed yourself to suffer so badly to the point you wouldn’t even take the time to take care of yourself.

You were so oblivious to the toxicity in your life and what it was doing to you.

Allowing people to mistreat you, excusing their behavior, and always trying to see the good in them even when there was not much good to begin with.

Thankfully, years later, you finally realized that not everyone has the same heart as you.

But I really wish you would have realized it sooner.

Your main priority in life should be your own happiness and focusing on what you need to do for your own life, not others.

It is not your job to fix damaged people.

There is nothing wrong with having a healing nature, but what is wrong is continuing to nurture someone when they are taking advantage of your care and inflicting their hurt onto you.

Never let others dim your light.

Love yourself first, and never allow yourself to get into a situation of begging another human being to love you like you love them.

Fight for your worth, your smile, your piece of mind, and your happiness.

Don’t spend your time trying to prove to anybody that you are great when the main person that needs to know that is yourself.

Life should be filled with smiles, laughs, and memorable memories. Not frowns, cries, and isolation.

Why are you settling for less than you deserve?

Why be miserable when you can be happy?

Do not feel bad for walking away from things that no longer serve you.

Although I am not proud of how you allowed people to turn you, I am very proud to say that I have learned a lot from you, including how I never want to live my life again.

Above all else, I now protect myself and my heart and am very happy to say that I no longer know you.