Tell yourself a different story.

“Tell yourself a different story.” It’s advice I got in 2024. While painful at the time, it’s made me think.

Whether we realize it or not, each of us is telling ourselves a story or playing a role in someone else’s. These stories are often influenced by our life experiences and the people we spend the majority of our time around. They also happen to shape the choices we make and the lives we create. With that knowledge in mind, I reflected on my own stories in 2024. Here’s what I learned to do differently stepping into 2025:

Tell yourself the story that you deserve calm love, supportive love, consistent love. You deserve reciprocal love that is felt through actions, not just words or good intentions. You deserve the truth.  

Tell yourself the story that your feelings and your experience are real and valid, no matter how anyone tries to convince you otherwise. Tell yourself that you can trust yourself, honor your experience, and share your vulnerability. This is your greatest strength. Don’t lose that.

Tell yourself the story that you deserve people who want to understand you. That showing your authentic self is always a good idea when it comes to love. That the people who get a place in your life will make a safe place for you, even when they disagree. 

Tell yourself the story that those who reject you are really just redirecting you. They are redirecting you first and foremost back to yourself. And secondly to those who show up for you and stand beside you.

Tell yourself the story that while 2024 might have been hard and heartbreaking, there has always been so much waiting on the other side of this journey. The turbulent waters in this past year - they are just part of the path to the vast wide ocean of space for all of you.

Tell yourself. You deserve a beautiful story.