In today’s society
There’s this twisted unrealistic idea of love
It is believed that when you love someone
You never hurt them
You never lie to them
You never give up on them
And sadly
You never leave them
Regardless of your happiness.
I stand before you today
Not confessing and asking for forgiveness from you
But from the Creator and my own heart
Both of which I have neglected and ignored
I am Nikkita Kiniminia Four Souls
My native name is Na-gi-mato (spirit bear)
Daughter of Lori Walker and Allesandro Foursouls
And I confess
I choose me
I will not apologize or regret
Choosing to leave someone or a situation
To focus on my heart and mind
But I will apologize if in the process it hurt you
The process of learning to love myself though
I will not regret
All those times I was sent away since the beginning of high school
To a variety of treatments
And I may have not appreciated it
But I admit I needed it,
I realized that when I loved myself first
I wanted to live
Not for someone else, but for me
I was shown what real love was
Love that fed your soul and made you feel alive
I learned that people who love you
Are going to be honest with you completely
Regardless of if hurts you or not
I also learned that if you leave someone
It doesn’t mean you don’t love them
It just means you love yourself more then to put yourself through that hurt
Because though love can be beautiful-
If not done right,
It will only hurt you.
I was shown what to look for in a person,
To keep in mind
The warning signs that they’re only going to hurt you
After all it’s my heart that’s at stake if I choose to ignore those signs
And keep them in my life because I chose to love them
More than myself
I was taught while I was away
That never speaking up when someone hurt me
Was a disloyalty towards myself
That the concept of arguing with someone who hurt you regardless of their status
Wasn’t necessarily toxic
It seems I have neglected the teachings I was taught while away
I chose to ignore them and jeopardized my heart as I chose to fight
For those I loved more than myself
No more though
I apologize to those I have hurt since leaving
But that’s not who I am anymore.
I’m not willing to go through so much for someone if they’re not willing to grow as a person
And admit when they’re in the wrong
The whole idea of arguing is to get to the root of the problem
Deciding from there where to go
If the process of understanding what the problem is
is taking too long and beginning to weigh on your mind
Then if from there you choose to love yourself
You decide whether or not this relationship or connection
Is worth your mental state of mind and connection with the Creator
I recently graduated from Montana Youth Challenge
And I almost lost myself since coming back
I chose to love someone more than I loved myself yet again,
Only this time I walked away before it could get too far
Forgive me Creator
I lost sight of you fighting for someone I should have let go
I lost sight of me
But no more
For I choose me
And I’ll keep choosing me