I hope you choose calm. Even when you're in the midst of chaos. When someone upends your world, and the rest of the world feels utterly upside down: be calm. Some people need you to be their safe haven.

the sun doesn't apologize for shiningthe rain doesn't apologize for fallingthe birds don't apologize for singingthe trees don't apologize for growingyou don't need to apologize for being

I hope you choose kindness. Even when others are being cruel. When someone asks you to give them your heart all warm and full of trust, and they give you something makeshift and full of barbed wire in return: be kind. Some people need to feel your heart wrap around them more than you know.

I hope you choose love. Even when it would be easier to hate. When someone stirs white-hot rage within you, when they insult you, when they question your worth: be loving. Some people need your love more than you do.

It was only through enduring winter that I finally learned: no matter what cold comes my way, no matter how long and dark the days may grow—there is hope waiting for me around the corner. There is sunlight waiting for me to set it free from within. There is beauty in breakage, and there is love after loss.

You have been hurt, and you have hurt. You are no stranger to pain, anger or fear. Even so, you have given grace to others, and you have been shown forgiveness yourself. And that is what makes you so beautiful, I think. You have had every reason to give up, but you still chose love.

Yes, you are imperfect but your quirks and cracks are the things that make you so astoundingly, breathtakingly you.Yes, you make mistakes but my god, there is something spectacular in the way you don't let it take you down; you get back up every time you fall, and you come back wiser for it.And if being a strong yet soft human with a hopeful heart isn't something worth being unapologetic about, then I don't know what is.

Sunrise is your reminderthat what once grew coldwill begin again new

It is ok to feel flawed and failed and fearful and confused and broken and lost and let down and it is also ok to feel nothing at all. These things do not define you; your goodness and warmth and kindness and compassion and creativity and honesty and heart and every other big and small wonderful thing about you are what define you.