Dear Teenage Me: You Are Worthy

Dear Teenage Me,
 
You are worthy.
 
You are worthy of more than you could dream.  You are worthy of love, from others, but more importantly from yourself.
 
You deserve to shower yourself in love rooted in respect, dignity, honesty, compassion, and intuition. If others enter your life and tread upon any of these tenets, thus devaluing your ability to love yourself, know that you have the power to allow them to exit just as they came in.
 
Abuse not only comes in the form of bruises, but also in words.  You have always said that once a person lays a hand on you, you will leave. 
 
Why wait for that degree of harm to release you? 
 
Abuse can slip into your mind and heart unannounced and masquerade as character critiques, denouncement of your values, alteration of your reality, and “core principles you need to change about yourself, because you are wrong/bad/misinformed/less than/lacking in some manner”.  Abuse can be the voice of a partner silencing your intuition, making you doubt your gut—a force that has never failed you in the past but now seems as useful as a magnetized compass whose north needle failingly points south in the middle of the ocean. Abuse can masquerade as the words you say to yourself, “If this ever happens again, I am gone”…and then after a month’s passage, you find yourself saying them a second and third time.
 
Dear teenage me, you will encounter this.  Know that you are powerful, radiant, and bold.  You can trust yourself.  You must.
 
You can empower your intuition and voice to protect your heart—your heart is sensitive, and it is beautiful in this quality.  Even without a compass, you know how to find your home, grounding, and spirit. 
 
You are worthy of emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental safety. You have a community of family and friends who will remind you of this, but you must allow their voices to hold more collective weight than the sole voice that will tell you otherwise. More importantly, you must allow your voice—your truth—to hold the greatest weight.
 
I believe in your voice.
 
I believe in your truth.
 
I believe in your worth.
 
I believe in you.
 
With radiant and empowered love,
 
Whitney
  

Whitney Akers, M.S., Ed.S., NCC, is pursing her doctoral degree in the UNCG Department of Counseling and Educational Development. Whitney completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology and Sexuality Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and earned a MS/EdS in Couple and Family Counseling and School Counseling at UNCG.  Whitney is a Nationally Certified Counselor and has experience counseling in community agency, inpatient, detention center, and school settings. Whitney’s passion for advocacy extends to challenging the social construction of power through feminist ideology, art, and activism.