This was me at 5 years old.

Before and after eating brunch at my grandparents’ house this past Christmas Day, my sister, mother, grandmother, and I took the time to look through old photo albums from when my siblings and I were children. After the laughs we shared at how funny some of our expressions or outfits were, I was left questioning myself “What happened?”.

What caused me to be afraid to fully express myself like this?

What caused me to try to hide my outspoken and extravagant nature?

What made me lose faith in the world, and more importantly, myself?

What made me forget who I was?

What I’ve come to know through four tough years of feeling like I was in the dark and that things would never get better, two years of working on my overall well-being every day, and a couple of months spent so far on working towards my dream life, is that it was all for the little girl in the photo. To learn to cherish her. To honor her. And to get back to her.

💘 Hanna