You are allowed to change.

You do not have to be a slave to your past — to the person who you used to be. Life is full of change and evolution; the most natural thing that you can do is evolve.

You are allowed to disagree with the person who you used to be. That doesn’t mean that your past self was “fake.” Maybe at one point, you were not fully living in your truth — or maybe that was your truth at that time.

You can change your values and beliefs. You can change your priorities, what is important verses no longer necessary.

There may be some people who are stuck on the old version of you. They might say accusational things like, “but you always did this…” or “you always said that…” And you do not owe them any explanation.

The younger you are, the more easily influenced you are. It’s so much easier to absorb your environment — and confuse your environment with your own self. Other people’s thoughts become your own thoughts.

As you get older, you become more confident with who you truly are. You also become more aware of environment vs self. You learn how to draw boundaries between projection vs objection.

In your life journey, you will meet people along the way who are here to test you — test who you truly are. They are not bad people, even if it seems that way. They are here to hold up a mirror — so you can see who you really are.

Some people change for the worst, as they let themselves blur with their environment. But when you follow faith over fear, you will change for the better. It’s the faith in knowing your truth.

So, do not be ashamed of who you used to be, or who you once surrounded yourself with, or the environment you blurred into. Sometimes, it takes not knowing who you are, in order to know who you are. It may be vital to be a stranger to yourself before you can befriend yourself.

And the same way that you can let yourself change, you should also let those around you change. Give them the same grace. Do not hold people to their past like a life sentence.

You were never a bad person. You were surrounded by bad energy — and you let yourself absorb it. And even in your worst moments, you still made good decisions.

This world is running on fear, not faith. We are so worried about all the bad things happening — and all the bad things that just haven’t happened yet. This causes us to miss out on all of the good things.

There is so much fear in the world and we think that we can protect ourselves by amplifying our fears, becoming even more fearful. In reality, the only thing that you can fight fear with is faith — not more fear.

Faith comes from trusting the good things in life. You have faith in yourself to do the right thing. You have faith that the world is not completely broken, that you can still find goodness around you.

So, let yourself change. Do not let your past hold you back. Do not let people from your past hold you back. Do not let people from your present, who are still living in the past, hold you back.

You can be a completely different person. And you can realize that, that person was the same you all along.