I’ve learned to never stay down too long
I get back up, I pick myself up
I smile
Not a fake smile, not a pasted on smile
An assured smile
Because life keeps turning
I keep learning
Change is the only way I know how to grow
Maybe I like the pain now
It inspires me, it motivates me, it moves me
So I look up at the Sun
And I drink in the beauty of this broken thing we call life
And know in my heart
It was not a mistake, it never is, it was the process
And I trust the process
It takes me where I need to be
When I’m too wrapped up in what I want it to be
Every time I fall
It’s the vast sky I look up to see
And I know life has a long road ahead for me
Even in the darkness
There’s such beauty
So raw, so real, so deep
And I realize I was too distracted to see
What was right there in front of me

Onward & Upward, Always … xo
Leah