What doesn’t kill you

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, they said.

But it did kill me.

It killed my sense of self worth. It killed my faith in myself. My faith in love. My faith in the world. It murdered my hopes and crushed the seeds of any dreams under its heel.

Yes, I got stronger.

But not because it didn’t kill me. It did. But I rose again.

Not because of it.

I got stronger despite it. I got stronger because I was always going to get stronger.

What doesn’t kill you doesn’t kill you.

You get stronger because you are strong.

Don’t give the ones doing the killing any credit. Your growth is your achievement, not theirs.

©️ 2024 Cristen Writes