Mark Twain's Recipe

Your turn is coming,
your time is coming,
your happiness, is coming.

even if it feels like
you have been celebrating
the happiness and success
of others a lot lately.

Make sure you don't forget about
all the things you already have to be
grateful for.

You may not have it all just yet,
but you are a work in progress,
and there is still so much falling
into place for you.

Your journey may look a little different,
but, it isn't any less worthy
of recognition.

There are moments so worth
celebrating that are unfairly overlooked.

So instead of feeling like
you can only smile for other people,
normalize feeling proud of yourself
for ending a toxic relationship instead
of staying with them for the sake of
being in a relationship.

Normalize being proud of yourself
for leaving a job where you had the
opportunity to progress your career,
but it was destroying your soul in the
process.

Normalize being proud of yourself for
putting your life on hold as you heal.

It gets exhausting saving all your
smiles for other people,
so please don't forget how far
you have come and how proud
of yourself you should be.