New Year

In less than 10 days,
it will be a new year.

Sometime this year,
I will be a new person—
overcoming the trials of the year before,
giving healing the time it needs.

Part of me is excited:
you will no longer know me.
The version of the girl you created will be gone—
the girl who drained herself for you,
who twisted herself into impossible shapes to satisfy you.

You are no longer a thought in my choices.
No one is.
This year, I will not let anyone dictate who I am.

Though you tried endlessly to shatter me,
I will rise above you—
like smoke drifting from a fire, rising and unbound.

You stayed the same,
and your bitterness still clings to the air.
I was just a girl who fell in love with you.

But you taught me something:
never to lose myself love that demanded my silence again.
One thing I can thank you for:
proving my worth was never yours to define.

This year,
I will become the woman you prevented me from being.