Five years ago today, I met an amazing man. Over the years, he has given me a soft place to land when my heart was hurting. He’s reinforced the beauty of me when I allow myself to doubt. He has loved every part of me, even when I’ve felt I was being unlovable. He took on a woman with baggage – three children and a history of abuse.

But this post isn’t really about him. While he is especially wonderful and amazing, this post is meant to celebrate the woman I had come to be the day he met me. While I’ve certainly changed drastically since that day, I can’t help but stand in awe of that woman.

Less than a year before that, that same woman had spent her days fearful and afraid, beaten and abused, isolated and alone. She allowed every ounce of that hurt and pain into her life, yet she failed to recognize that she had the power to change it. She was never truly a victim. She was an enabler.

It took a long time for her to see it, but when she did, she knew, at that very moment, if she didn’t leave the situation she was in, there might not ever be another chance. With nothing more than three children and the clothes on her back, she found her way across town and into a shelter. At that shelter, she learned that love didn’t come from any external source, but from within. She learned that she could survive and that being a single mother wasn’t half bad. In fact, it was wonderful, amazing, beautiful, empowering and uplifting.

I’m still a bit neurotic at times, I panic over things I shouldn’t, I curse way too much, my house is almost always a mess, my laundry piles up until I think it will grow legs and devour my children, I allow myself to get distracted from the song my soul sings, and I have an abrasive personality when the wrong line is crossed. But I am beautiful. I always have been. And so are you.

No matter where you are in life, no matter what you believe, no matter what your imperfections or past. You. Are. BEAUTIFUL. If you remember nothing else, believe nothing else, let those three words sing true in your heart today, tomorrow, and for eternity.