Lately I've been on a journey of self healing. I've been allowing myself to feel certain things from my past that I typically run away from or ignore. All of us have a past, and a lot of the time the experiences from our past are painful. Everyone has their own way of coping with it. Some people distract themselves, some people ignore it completely, some people look to other people to fix it, some people give into addictions, etc. One thing I've realized recently about myself is that I tend to be a workaholic. I work as a way to distract myself and make myself feel like I am not letting my emotions get the best of me. I work to make myself feel more powerful and more in control of my life. As a result, I tend to find more value in my accomplishments than I do in myself. I am realizing that is not what will bring me happiness. So I've taken on the hard task of actually acknowledging all of the things of my past that I have been running from and facing my emotions head on. I wish I could say that it has been easy, but the truth is it is really really hard. However, even though it is hard, it is worth it. I've learned so much about myself in this short time, and I've learned that I am a lot stronger than I give myself credit for. I'm fighting for myself and my happiness. I'm acknowledging things that hurt me and allowing myself to feel. I'm allowing myself to cry when I need to cry and releasing the pain. Even though it is not easy in the moment, I always feel better afterwards. Taking one more step towards freedom. Taking one more step towards true happiness. I am finding the real me, and letting go of the version of myself that I created to survive. We all wear a mask sometimes to cover up who we really are and how we really feel. It's time to take off the mask and accept and love yourself. It's time to let go of the things that have been weighing you down. It's time to release the pain. You deserve to be happy.