We tend to imagine childhood as something that lays down a road -- brick by brick, in order, leading somewhere we can trace backward if we ever need to understand how we got here. In practice, it rarely works that way.

Healing is not the pursuit of perfection. Wholeness of our being does not mean the erasure of our scars. Our uniqueness, our authentic self, is revealed by the cicatrices collected on our journey through life. The wounds we suffer and heal speak to our strength. You are one-of-a-kind, trying to be anything else is torment.