What It Takes to Be Strong

You build me up. Make me think I'm perfect.

Then you tear me down.

I'm not who you expected me to be. I'm not the girl you see in anime. I'm not the girl who can go through everything with a smile and a laugh.

Some things, they get me down.

But I know what strength is. And it's not always smiling, deluding yourself that everything is okay.

It's knowing that not everything is okay, but you can and will get through it.

And when you just can't believe in that anymore, strength is when you ask for someone to help you out. To remind you that you can do it. To cheer you from the sidelines.

Strength is the ability to be that person on the sidelines for someone else, even if your life is in the gutter, and to be there wholeheartedly. It's not expecting someone to be better than they are- it's knowing that they're trying their best to be them, and helping them stay that way.

I'm not a great person. I'm a good person, and I'm a bad person. When I make or do something for someone else, I take in everything I possibly can and push out something just for them. But if I could, if I had the means, if I could erase all my ideals, I'd tear your wings off for this- for trying to tear off mine.