THINGS I THOUGHT I KNEW UNTIL LIFE TAUGHT ME OTHERWISE.

There was a time I thought I understood life.

I thought good intentions were enough.

I thought if I loved people sincerely, they would love me the same way.

I thought hard work always came with immediate rewards.

I thought the people I called friends would always remain friends.

I was wrong about many things.

Life has a quiet way of correcting you.

Sometimes, it doesn't shout. It simply lets you experience what you once thought could never happen to you.

I have learned that people can love you and still hurt you.

That you can give your best and still not get the outcome you hoped for.

That some people are only meant to be chapters, no matter how badly you wanted them to become the whole story.

I've learned that being strong doesn't mean you never break.

Sometimes, strength is crying when nobody is watching, wiping your tears, and still finding a reason to get out of bed the next morning.

I've also learned that not every unanswered prayer is a punishment.

Some things I begged God for would have taken me somewhere I wasn't ready to be.

Some doors I cried over closing were actually doors I needed to stop knocking on.

And perhaps the hardest lesson has been learning that I cannot control everything.

I cannot make people stay.

I cannot make people understand me.

I cannot make everything happen when I want it to.

All I can do is keep becoming.

Keep learning.

Keep healing.

Keep trusting that the things I don't understand today may make sense someday.

Maybe that's what growing really is.

Not becoming someone who has all the answers, but becoming someone who can live peacefully with the questions.

I don't know everything anymore.

And strangely, I'm okay with that.

Life has taught me otherwise. ❤️