A Letter To The People of my Past

Let me start off by saying that this post is to thank the
people of my past who haven’t made it to my future and have shaped me to be the
person I am today.  I’ve seen a lot of
articles about writing a letter to an ex or a letter to an ex’s new significant
other, but I haven’t seen one saying thank you to the people who haven’t made
it to the present or future.  So, I
decided that I would do this.  My life
has really changed for the better over the past few years and it’s thanks to my
past, here goes.

Dear people of my past who didn’t make it to my future,

I want to thank you. 
It is a sincere thank you.  My
life turned out the way it did because of you. 
This is not just towards my exes who made me more appreciative of my
boyfriend now, but the friends who left my side when I needed them most.  I NEEDED you at one of the worst times in my
life a few years ago and you decided to turn your back on me.  Some of you I even knew since I was in second
grade.  I gave you many chances in our
friendship to change your ways but you didn’t. 
Instead you disappointed me the worst out of everyone.  You disappointed me more than any ex I’ve
had.  Boys come and go at the age that we
were but friendship should be forever. 
You decided to go along with the rest of the group when you didn’t even have the full side of my story. 

I’ve learned from each and every one of the people that I am
no longer in contact with.  Whether it be
good or bad I did learn.  Life threw many
curveballs for a few years and when I finally hit rock bottom with no one to
turn to (family can only help so much because you don’t want to tell them
EVERYTHING you’re feeling, sometimes the truth from them really hurts) I
realized what it truly means when someone says “what doesn’t kill you only
makes you stronger.”  I learned a lot
from my exes as well.  I learned what I
want and don’t want in a man.  I don’t
resent my exes.  Of course there were
many issues with two of them that I just felt like I wasn’t worth anything or
deserved any better because why else would fate lead me to be with someone like
that but when it was good, it was really good. 
However, when it was bad, it was extremely bad.  They taught me to be appreciative and cherish
the nice guy that would eventually come into my life.  I just had to experience the bad boy and the issues
that came with that first.

A few years ago is when my life changed for the better.  I finally stopped feeling sorry for myself
and stopped blaming all of the people who hurt me and pulled myself
together.  I decided that I experienced
all of that for a reason.  I faced all of
those hardships to mold me into who I am today. 
In my present day I am happier, I believe in the little things that
count, I’m appreciative of the few people I have in my life, I am closer with
my family, and I have the best boyfriend. 
I appreciate my life and I value the relationships and friendships I
have.  I’m much closer with my parents
which there was a point in time where it was a constant fight every day because
they only wanted what was best for me and I stood up for these people who I
believed were my “ride or die.”  I
learned a lot in those few years.  Just
because someone treats you a certain way it doesn’t mean you should feel sorry
for yourself and mope in your own misery.

YOU HAVE A CHOICE. 
You have the ability to say when you’ve finally had enough.  You can make the decision to leave and never
look back.  That is what I did.  I distanced myself from the people who
mistreated me and three years later I’m the happiest I’ve been in my life.  Even though my circle has decreased
significantly, I only surround myself with people I cherish and know cherish
me.  I surrounded myself with positive
and inspiring people. 

So, I wanted to thank you. 
Thank you for all of the good and bad. 
Don’t get me wrong, I will cherish the good memories I have because I
don’t want to hate you.  I want to
remember you as a part of my old life.  I
don’t want to remember you as a bad person. 
Even though I may not like you now, and would never have you in my life
again I don’t want to hate you.  I may
ignore you if I ever see you in person, but I don’t want to hate you.  I want to remember you for the person I once
knew, not the person you became.  Whether
you are an old friend(s) or an ex this letter is written towards you.  Thanks to our time together you helped make
me who I am today.  You made me overcome
a lot of bad things and you were even there to help me through some of it.  I cherish everything in my life now BECAUSE
of you.  I may not have gotten the new
chance at a better life if it wasn’t for you. 
There was a time that I wished the worst for you and thought of you as
an enemy that I would hate forever, however I don’t wish the worst.  I don’t wish you to go through what I had to go
through. I can’t intervene with whatever Karma decides though.  That is when the universe will decide what
you truly deserve.  I hope you eventually
find the happiness that I found because it is an amazing feeling.

Thank you for everything.

Sincerely,

Monica

P.S.  I also want to
thank my parents and brother for being there to help me.  You will never understand how much I owe you
for being there.  You dealt with me at my
worst and loved me unconditionally regardless of anything that happened in my
life and for the things that I said.  I
am extremely lucky to have you in my life, I can’t begin to express how lucky I
am.  There is nothing in this world that
can make up for how you helped me.  You
were there when I hit rock bottom, and you were there to help me survive.  You are still there to this day even if it’s
to talk about a bad day.  I love you mommy,
daddy, and baby brother.