It’s never something you plan.

You don’t mark it on a calendar and write it out as one of your goals.

You don’t rally your friends to celebrate it and you don’t feel ready when and if it happens.

No one ever plans to wage war on themselves.  No one ever plans to walk through an emotional battlefield.  No one ever plans to get torn to pieces.

But it happens sometimes.  And when it does…it changes you.

Truly. Madly. Deeply.

And when these things happen – whether they be at the hands of other people, of our very own creation, or a little bit of both – we have choices to make.  We can forever stand among hostile territory and let the pain course through our veins…or we can rise.  We can put our weapons down…we can stand up…and we can declare victory on our terms.

We can learn from the pain.  We can grow from the lessons.  We can move one step closer to the person we were always meant to be.

And we can heal.

One day at a time.  One step at a time.  One moment at a time.

This is my brave and beautiful friend, Kristen.  A woman who is standing tall with a set of scars that she never expected to have.  A woman who found herself in a battle she never expected to fight.

But she chose.

She chose to hold her head up high.  She chose to believe all over again.  She chose to find herself amongst the rubble.

It wasn’t always easy.  But she chose.

And here she is…on the other side of having done so.

xo