“Being loved is not the same thing as loving.

When you fall in love, it is discovering the ocean

after years of puddle jumping. It is realizing you have hands.

It is reaching for the tightrope when the crowds have all gone home.

Do not spend time wondering if you are the type of woman

men will hurt. If he leaves you with a car alarm heart, you learn to sing along.

It is hard to stop loving the ocean. Even after it has left you gasping, salty.

Forgive yourself for the decisions you have made, the ones you still call

mistakes when you tuck them in at night. And know this:

Know you are the type of woman who is searching for a place to call yours.

Let the statues crumble.

You have always been the place.

You are a woman who can build it yourself.

You were born to build.”