… Because I can and that is it

I can dare.
I can try.
I can work hard.
I can succeed.

I can give.
I can help.
I can love.
I can laugh.

I can sit in the sun or walk in the storm.
I can make angels in the snow like I’m 10.
I can be emotional, melodramatic, and pathetic.
I can be ironic, self-critical, and suspicious.
I can be confident.
I can be pompous and eccentric.
I can cry.
I can scream.
I can be angry
I can be disappointed.
I can forgive.
I can cut.
I can leave.

I can shut myself in. In the room!

To be misunderstood.

… But I don’t have to if I don’t want to.
I don’t have to be the best for everyone.
I don’t have to suffer disrespect.
I don’t have to keep quiet.
I don’t have to go with my head down.
I don’t always have to nod in the affirmative and indulge.
I don’t have to be available to everyone and always.
I don’t have to convince anyone that I’m good when I’m bad.
I don’t have to share my statuses in public to “tell” my happiness.
I don’t have to have endless understandings, for someone who doesn’t understand me.
I don’t have to be understood.
I don’t have to be “the same”.
I don’t have to do everything others do.
I don’t have to politely lie and crawl into my ass.
I don’t have to get serious.
I don’t have to act “age-appropriate.”
I don’t have to grow up.
I don’t have to stop dreaming.
I don’t have to stop believing.