Private Story
Melanie Oliva
Melanie Oliva, 23, writer, Latina, feminist, Columbia, MO (originally from Kansas City, MO.)
05/01/2022
Change is so hopeful, but so lonely
I have been involved in a beautiful routine of self-love, self-care and healing the first two weeks of the year.
I feel really good, and I do not want to give up, but it is getting quieter.
The stillness is something I am not one-hundred percent comfortable with, but I know that it is a part of the process. I feel so different, as if the old me was just left behind, but I am still healing. There are still things I want to let go, people I am afraid of and new goals I am wanting to achieve. This time next year I will be four months into finishing my bachelors degree.
I want to tell 2017 Melanie that she is more than enough. That the bumps, the setbacks and the failures are not going to slow her down, but build her up. I am proud of how far she has come. I am blown away by her dedication for herself, when everyone left, when people turned their backs, when the support felt short and when the endless nights of doubts filled her mind. I want to tell her that it will be okay. It will all work out for the best, even when she is too stubborn to see it right away. That stubbornness will get her where she is now…and where she will continue to end up. She breaks glass ceilings, she turns heads and she dives into every project with her whole mind, body and soul.
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