I left my life to find myself.

I walked away from a marriage empty and broken. I was a mosaic of hurt and desperation, shattered on the inside and taped together on the outside. I left with my life in a black garbage bag. And I cried tears of heartache, failure, tragedy and relief as I slept that first night on my black garbage bag pillow. I was taught to love others before myself, that love was conditional, granted, given and taken away. And so I gave and gave until I was empty and broken.

And then I walked away. My power to love myself had been stripped away from me. My self-love was conditional, granted, given and taken away. And as I learned to love again, my love for myself kept crumbling until I shattered.