To my ex: thank you for hurting me.
Thank you for teaching me that what you called love had the potential to be treacherous, one-sided, and easily used as a weapon. I didn’t know then, but I know now: that’s not what it means to love someone.
Thank you for showing me that one’s true colors may not be immediately shown, and when they are it might be too late to tell yourself to be careful.
Thank you for proving that once bridges are burned there is no going back, and for putting me in a position from which I found out who my true friends were. Those people had my back through everything, and I will be with them forever.
Thank you for making me hate myself and go to the dark place. Even though you put me there, I proved to myself that I could climb back out again.
Thank you for putting me in danger, because now I know what could have been and I will never let that happen again.
Thank you for bringing out my dark side – a darker side than I ever knew I had. Now if ever I feel someone start bringing out the monster, I will know that person is toxic and not good for me. I will know to run.
Thank you for the apology I never got, because life is often unfair and bad things happen all the time, without apology.
Thank you for making me hate you, be afraid of you, learn from you, move on from you, and forgive you. Thank you for being the lesson I needed to learn, in order to grow into the person I am now.
They say you never truly get over somebody until you find someone new. Whether or not that’s true, I know I wouldn’t be able to love like I can now if I hadn’t learned all the ways it could go wrong from you.
So from the bottom of my healed heart, I thank you.
