The Year I Fought

The year 2020—
I began to fight.
Mental illness.
Heartbreak.
COVID.
And love.

I fought to stay alive
through depression and suicide.
No more overdosing.
No more thinking,
Just set me free.

From COVID-19
No more quarantine,
no isolation,
No struggle for oxygen.
Let me breathe.

From heartbreak and love
My heartbeat echoing,
love whispering,
I’m leaving you.

My love had faded,
It was all a phase,
infatuation greater than genuine.

But 2020 taught me
I am more than what left me.
More than the sickness in my mind.
More than the virus in my lungs.

I shed old versions of myself,
peeled away the ache,
stood in the mirror,
and saw someone
who had learned to survive storms.

Now I choose love
that does not vanish in the night.
I choose to breath
that fills my lungs with life.
I choose peace
over the war in my head.

The year I fought
I won.