2021, I’m Ready To Let You Go

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 by Rania Naim ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Domino Park- NYC, June 2021…The day I felt alive again.

I’m ready. Ready to let you go.

You were a year like no other. A year of revelations and self-reflection. A year of small highlights that made a big difference and a defining year for me. It’s the year I can safely say, I found myself. Every month was an answer. Every month gave me closure. Every month healed the pain 2020 brought.

With all that being said, I’m ready to end this chapter and start a new one because I am now equipped with so many lessons and so much resilience that will empower me to face anything fearlessly because thanks to you, I now know I can survive anything. Thanks to you, I now know how to fight back.

I’m ready to put an end to the nights I spent trying to understand myself and revisit my childhood wounds so I can heal them, they definitely weren’t easy because they reminded me that all the things I thought I got over were very much still alive within me. I had to say goodbye to some very dear parts to me but I knew it was the right thing to do. The parts of me that served me in the past are not going to serve me in the future and I had to look ahead.

I’m ready to put an end to all the lectures I’ve given people, teaching them how to treat me, setting boundaries with so many of them, taking back my power, and giving everyone what they deserved. It was the year I finally put my foot down and I wasn’t afraid of the consequences. I wasn’t afraid of losing people because I wanted to put myself first.

I’m ready to put an end to the inner battles and the battles between my heart and my mind. I’m ready to let go of the defensiveness that permeated my body this whole year because I didn’t want to allow anyone to hurt me again. I’m ready to ease up again because now people know where they stand with me and they know what they can and can’t get away with. Now I’ve finally taught people that I’m not going to be in their lives if they don’t know how to respect me or value me. Now I’ve finally taught people that my feelings matter and my voice matters. I’m no longer suppressing how I feel to accommodate anyone.

2021, I’m ready to let you go even though you gave me so much power and self-love, it’s time to take it easy now. It’s time to reap the rewards of what I sew. It’s time to start allowing love, light and abundance into my life. I’m no longer holding back any part of me. I am ready to shine, I’m ready for my comeback. I’m ready for the world to see the new and improved me and I’m thankful that you gave me the time and that courage to do that. You taught me how to be insanely strong and now it’s time to be insanely happy.

2022, I hope you’re ready for me. The show must go on, and this time it will be better than ever.

The Difference Between Us

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020 by Rania Naim ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I hope this is the year where you get reintroduced to yourself, your potential and your worth. I hope this is the year where you find the road to your wishes easier to navigate. I hope this is the year where all your (1)

The difference between us
is that I say how I truly feel
and you say what I want to hear
and somewhere in the middle
we failed to understand each other.

The difference between us
is that I find homes in people
and you find excuses
and somewhere in between
I found myself closing my door

The difference between us
is I walk away when I’m confused
but you convince people that you’re sure
but eventually your hesitation prevailed
and it became harder to trust you

The difference between us
is that I heal myself when I’m broken
but you break people when you’re hurt
and then my heart starts to wonder
if this is where it truly belongs

The difference between us
is that I don’t find joy in dishonesty
and you find pleasure in deception
but eventually your manipulation
brought the end of our story

The difference between us
is that you expect me to wait
and I expect you to show up
but somehow your absence made more sense
and I found myself much happier without you

If This Is The End Of Our Story, I Want You To Know That You’re My Favorite Chapter

January 7, 2020January 7, 2020 by Rania Naim ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

priscilla-du-preez-aTkJ13pvOd8-unsplash — Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

I don’t believe that timing should be a barrier in moving a relationship forward. Maybe it makes it harder but it doesn’t make it impossible. I’m also a firm believer that things have a way of falling into place, they have a way of unfolding naturally and I’m a firm believer that if something is meant to happen, then against all odds, it will happen.

So if our story does not end here, I hope I’m still the same when you’re back.

I hope I don’t lose an inch of respect for you. I hope I can still admire your qualities whether you’re near or far and I hope I can still go to you for advice and I hope you still care.

I hope that when we meet again, we can still look at each other the way we did before timing and distance got in the way and I hope that the time we spent apart would help us realize what we truly meant to each other.

I hope our story is not like all other short stories; I hope our story is long, full of plot twists, surprises, lessons and I hope our story has a happy ending.

I hope we can look back at that time as an intermission, not an ending. As a cliff hanger, not the end of a show and I hope we’re meant to go our separate ways so we can reunite again stronger, wiser and more forgiving.

But if this is the end of our story; if this is all it will ever be, then I hope that when we meet again, we’re both happy, I hope we can still wish the best for each other because we both know how much we struggled to find meaning, to find love and find ourselves.

If I see you again and I don’t feel a thing, I hope there’s no bitterness, no resentment, and no sadness. I hope we can be a reminder of how God sometimes brings two people together to heal each other and once they’re both healed, they move on to better and bigger things.

Maybe healing is not the same thing as loving. Maybe other people heal you so other people can love you. Maybe we all improve each other for someone else.

But if this is the end of our story, then I want you to know that you are my favorite chapter, the chapter I will go back and read when I want to smile and the chapter I will go back and read when the story gets boring and I hope I’m your favorite chapter too.

If our story doesn’t have a happy ending, I hope we’re the chapter that led to it and I hope we are the reason why we started believing in happy endings again.

But if we are meant for each other, then I hope we’re both still on the same page when we meet again, that we can pick up exactly where we left off and keep writing the rest of our story together.

A letter from my book All The Letters I Should Have Sent.

The Only Kind Of Love You Really Need

January 3, 2020January 3, 2020 by Rania Naim ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

ian-schneider-TamMbr4okv4-unsplash — Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

You need the kind of love that inspires you to become even more compassionate, even deeper, even softer. The kind of love that doesn’t make you regret giving your heart or being kind or exposing your vulnerability. You need the kind of love that restores your faith in humanity and in yourself. The kind of love that keeps you overflowing with more to give, not the one that makes you feel empty and restless.

You need the kind of love that allows you to grow as an individual, the kind of love that doesn’t fill your mind with toxic thoughts or leave you feeling like you can’t do anything right. The kind of love that makes you sleep at night with one less thing to worry about. The kind of love that doesn’t give you nightmares or anxiety or makes you feel like you have to try so hard or compete for someone’s affection. The kind of love you can truly trust.

You need the kind of love that stands by you on your weakest days, the kind of love that makes the hard times a little easier to get through. You need the kind of love that stays when it’s easier to leave and fights when it’s easier to give up. The kind of love that gives you more than one reason to hold on. You need the kind of love that makes you glow because you’re genuinely happy. The love that liberates you.

You need the kind of love that you don’t fear. The kind of love that doesn’t make you nervous thinking about the future. The kind of love that tames your raucous doubts and reminds you that the love you always wanted was never unreasonable but you were just asking those who couldn’t deliver.

I’m Not Stone Cold

December 19, 2019 by Rania Naim ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

roksolana-zasiadko-cMpvbAR1qZk-unsplash — Photo by Roksolana Zasiadko on Unsplash

I’m not stone cold
but I’m no longer a sucker for words
or a lover of games
or a believer of lies.

I’m not stone cold
but I have mastered the art
of being on my own
without pining over love.

I’m not stone cold
but I now know how
to take my heart back
from those who broke it.

I’m not stone cold
but I stopped putting people
on pedestals they don’t deserve.
I stopped fighting losing battles.

I’m not stone cold
but I stopped apologizing
for who I am,
for speaking my truth.

I’m not stone cold
but I’m no longer restless
I now stand my ground.
I now take my power back.

I’m not stone cold
but the way I love has changed
and the way I live has changed.
I’m not trying to ‘win’ anyone anymore.

I’m not stone cold
but I’ve learned how to
light my own fire
when people leave me out in the cold.

2019, I’m Ready To Let You Go

November 25, 2019November 25, 2019 by Rania Naim ♥ 1 Comment

Screen Shot 2019-11-25 at 5.20.09 PM

2019, I’m ready to let you go.

This time, I’m saying goodbye to what could be the most challenging year of my life. It wasn’t necessarily bad, but it was challenging. It gave me so much to remember yet so much to forget. It brought me so much joy but also a lot of tears. It gave me so much to be thankful for but took away a few valuable things.

2019, this is my bittersweet farewell to you.

Farewell to the day I had to break my own heart because I knew deep down I wasn’t getting the kind of love I deserved. I had to choose myself instead of settling for being an option to someone else. I had to pick being alone again over someone who was never going to value me or make an effort to be in my life. I had to once again admit to myself that I made the wrong choice and it was not too late to right my wrongs. It’s never too late to realize that you made a mistake because you can always make things right again. Farewell to the day I had to break my own heart to save it. Farewell to the day I decided to do things the hard way because I wasn’t ready to lose myself again in the arms of the wrong person and I wasn’t ready to go back on what I always believed in just to make someone else happy. Especially someone who didn’t take my happiness very seriously.

Farewell to the days I saw my loved ones suffer; either from illnesses or losses or painful experiences. The days that make you reevaluate your life and your choices. The days that make you reflect on the meaning of life and security. The days that teach you the hard way that you’re not always in control and that God will always have the last word. The days you’re never prepared for but have to face anyway and utilize all your strength, faith, wisdom, patience and resilience. The days that present you with the hardest tests in life, the ones you didn’t study for, the ones you need to pass anyway. The ones that force you to burst every bubble and step out of your comfort zone. Farewell to the days that broke my heart in irreparable ways.

But more than anything, farewell to the old me, the person I was before this year started, the person who was fearful and confused and scared. The person who didn’t know if they could start over or make things happen or walk away from certain people. Farewell to the person who was stuck either professionally or personally or romantically because if 2019 taught me anything, it’s that if you can take every challenge, every setback, every painful heartbreak, every loss, every tragedy and every missed opportunity as a sign that you need to grow or change your life or yourself and you actually do something about it, then you’ll never have a bad year. You’ll always win even if you don’t have the right cards dealt for you as long as you learn how to play them. And if you can search for the truth within you and among others even if it hurts, you won’t lose yourself, you won’t end up living a lie. You won’t pretend to be someone you’re not.

Farewell 2019, the year that forced me to find myself and my truth, to stand on my own, to watch everything I feared unfold before my eyes, to make all the difficult decisions that I was running away from, to protect my own heart by breaking it over and over again and still survive, and still hope, and still dream of better and bigger things.

2019 will always be the year that tried to kill me but I survived and the year that prepared me for whatever challenges 2020 plans on bringing, but for now, all I can hope for, just like I do every year, is for 2020 to be kind. I hope 2020 is the calm after the storm. I hope 2020 is the year I thrive but regardless of what it plans on bringing, I’m ready.

2020, I’m so ready for you!

You Won’t Recognize Me Now

October 2, 2019 by Rania Naim ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

You won’t recognize this new me,
you won’t recognize my laughter,
I don’t find your jokes funny anymore.
You won’t recognize my eyes,
they no longer admire you,
they no longer look for you.

You won’t recognize my hands,
they no longer long for your touch,
they no longer want to hold you.
You won’t recognize my energy,
I’m not available to you anymore,
I’m not yours this time and
it’s your turn to feel my absence.

You won’t recognize my heart,
it doesn’t beat for you anymore,
it doesn’t miss you,
it’s not the same.
Or maybe it is,
maybe it has always been this way.
People break it
thinking it won’t mend itself
or heal
but it always bounces back
even stronger.
It always comes back to me,
intact
unable to settle
for half-hearted love
or mediocre relationships.

You won’t recognize me now,
look at me all you want
but you will never see me
because I put myself back together
in ways you will never understand.

A LETTER TO THE ONES I HAD TO LET GO

May 29, 2019October 6, 2020 by Rania Naim ♥ 2 Comments

omurden-cengiz-651591-unsplash — Photo by Ömürden Cengiz on Unsplash

Letter Fourteen from my book All The Letters I Should Have Sent.

Let me tell you how I did it. Let me tell you how I got your ghosts out of my system.

I stopped thinking about you late at night when I was alone wishing you were there so I could talk to you. I started talking to my best friends. I started reading. I started writing. Because I realized they’ve all been there for me in all the ways you weren’t and they’re still here with me but you’re gone.

I stopped staring at my phone when something good happens hoping you would say something and I stopped staring at it when something bad happens tempted to call you and tell you about it because you never wanted to celebrate with me and you never wanted to give me a shoulder to cry on when my tears wouldn’t stop falling.

I remembered that I couldn’t count on you to make me smile when you’re the ones who made me cry.

I stopped comparing anyone I met to you. I stopped believing in the same spark that burned me—the flames that turned to ashes.

I’m done living in this illusion I’ve created with you and I’m ready to face my new reality without you.

And finally, I stopped thinking that you’ll come back one day. I stopped wanting you to fight for me because the truth is, I don’t want a fight—love shouldn’t be about fighting and it shouldn’t be a war. It shouldn’t be a battle of who cares more and who’s going to fall harder. It shouldn’t be about winning and losing.

And if it is, then I don’t want it. Maybe I’m just a dreamer but I believe that love should be easy, it should be simple and clear. It shouldn’t be all questions and games and it shouldn’t leave you wondering or waiting.

And maybe I’m just a dreamer but I believe that love should be magic and it should leave you in awe.

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It Sucks That I’m Happier Without You

May 3, 2019May 3, 2019 by Rania Naim ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Screen Shot 2019-05-03 at 3.23.13 PM — Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

It sucks that I’m happier without you.

It sucks that when I sleep at night, I can only think of how good it feels to sleep without wondering what you’re doing, who you’re talking to or trying to find the truth between your lies.

It sucks that when I wake up, I don’t miss your good morning text. The one that was probably sent to many. The one that eventually stopped meaning anything if I wasn’t the only one you think of when you wake up in the morning. It sucks that when I wake up, I have one less thing to worry about. One less burden.

It sucks that when someone brings up your name, I have to nod and agree with everything they’re saying about you. It sucks that I can’t defend you or your actions because you didn’t prove any of them wrong. You didn’t even try.

It sucks that when I think about my future, I feel better that you won’t be in it. Thinking of all the ways you could have screwed me over. Thinking of all the ways you could have ruined it with your presence. It sucks that walking away may have been the best thing I did for myself.

It sucks that you were once an important somebody who quickly turned into a nobody, but you know what sucks even more, staying when I know I’m not being valued. Staying with someone who can’t handle their own baggage or their own problems. Staying with someone who finds it so easy to lie instead of facing the truth. Staying when every day felt like I was losing a part of myself.

What sucks even more, is staying with someone who doesn’t make me a better person. Staying when I know I can find someone else who wants to give me the world. A world where I don’t have to apologize for my heart or regret trusting someone or giving someone my all. Someone who can’t picture his world without me in it.

It sucks that your memory is now grimy and dusty….but I guess that’s how I became clean. I had to see who you really were underneath all the glitz and the glam. At the end of the day, an empty heart, an empty soul will never recognize a heart that’s full of love. A shallow heart will never understand a deep one. A selfish heart can never give. A dead heart can never beat.

The Truth Is, You’re Meant To Fight Some Battles Alone

January 26, 2019January 27, 2019 by Rania Naim ♥ 2 Comments

taylor-hernandez-497488-unsplash — Photo by taylor hernandez on Unsplash

If I have learned anything over the last few years, it’s that you have to always be ready to face certain battles alone. Your inner demons, your worst fears, and your own suffering because at the end of the day no one will truly understand your demons, no one will understand the damage, no one will understand the storms you hold within, no one will understand but you, so you have to always safeguard yourself with the tools you need to fight certain battles alone and walk through certain paths by yourself.

If I have learned anything over the last few years, it’s that you can’t really predict what life will bring you because things can change overnight. One day you’re on cloud nine and the next day you’re hitting rock bottom. One day your phone lights up with the exact words you want to hear and the next day you’re receiving the news you’ve been fearing. One day you’re planning a future with someone and the next day you’re packing your bags and leaving. One day it looks like you’re finally getting things right and the next day your life is turned upside down forcing you to start over.

And sometimes there’s nothing you could do about it except learning how to survive alone, how to be your own person, how to count on your strength and hold on for a little while longer until things align again or until the world sets you free.

And I know that on some days you just want life to slow down, you wish that you could stop battling and start living. You want to be fought for instead of being the fighter, you want to be held instead of holding everything together and you want to be understood instead of drowning in a sea of your own confusion. But if you’re meant to face the hardest of battles alone, if you’re meant to keep fighting with little to no help, then maybe it can only get better from there, you can only rebuild after destruction. You can only find peace after war.

And I know that it’s harder on some days to keep the faith and stay hopeful, but maybe that’s how you make it through, staying hopeful when things seem hopeless, staying intact when things are falling apart, knowing that eventually, life will straighten itself out again, the picture won’t be upside down and the answers won’t be so confusing or so hard to find.

I guess what keeps me going is knowing that we all get what we deserve in the end, what we work so hard for and what our hearts truly desire. Because just as things can change for the worse overnight, they can also change for the better. Just as things suddenly disappear, life can magically hand you more blessings.

And maybe you’re not meant to win every battle or get all the answers right but as long as you still know how to stand tall every time life knocks you down, you will prevail.

Ironically, life becomes easier when you know that even if you lose all your battles, as long as you haven’t lost yourself, you’re still a winner.

Rania Naim

Creative Writer. Author. Editor. Blogger. Storyteller

Tag: Truth