It took me
Forty years
To really begin
To get to know myself
To learn
What it is
To love
And to be loved
To sit in the quiet
And enjoy the stillness
At times it’s easy
To succumb to crippling anxiety
To lose myself to angry codependency
To compare your best to my worst
To crawl inside comfortable fears
And make a home there
But it’s getting easier
To unravel the knots
To speak my peace
To listen
Without judgment
And still reach out with kindness
Love can hurt
When I don’t give it a chance
To heal.
by Julie Blue 