To the person who never got to know how I really felt,

      It took a long time to realize that I was holding back. I didn't know I was bitting back my feelings because of fear.

     I'm sorry you never knew the truth.

      Forgive me if I'm not forward with my feelings and intentions.

     I'm a naturally shy and quite person. I've only now come to realize my fear/hesitation with vulnerability and commitment. I've only recently recuperated from the destruction that I've caused myself, and the idea that I might be placing myself in a position to be broken again, is terrifying.

     Though I've so long yearned to fall in love, I've realized that its possibility is one of the most emotionally frightening things a person can experience.

      Those 3 words make you so vulnerable.

     There's the fear that the words won't be repeated or that they will be taken advantage of.

     With just three words, I give my heart to someone.

     I place my heart in your hands and wait for your next move.

     With just three words I give you the power to destroy me.

     There's nothing more romantic than your lover shouting their love for you across the rooftop; unabashedly showing their love to the world.

      But with those three words, they see where my heart lays. And if things were to turn for the worst, I would be faced with pity because they'd understand what losing the person who held my three words could do.

      I don't like to be pitied.

     It makes me feel vulnerable.

     But in most cases, working past your fear is well worth it. When I reach the point of speaking those 3 words, I would like to think that the urge to let them know that they are loved, would surpass my fear of vulnerability.

      As I laid in bed with these thoughts, I scrolled through my phone and found this saying, "A bird doesn't sit on a branch it fear that it'll break, but rather is reassured by the knowledge that they have wings to rely on."

     Would I really deny myself great pleasure and adventures in the fear that I'd fall and injure myself?

     I have heard of less branches breaking, then branches that survive the weight of a bird.

      I don't have wings to break my fall. But I know what it's like to feel at your lowest. I know how to put my broken pieces together and live the life I was meant to be living.

     Nobody wants to have their heart broken. But can you love fully without putting your heart on the line?

      I don't want to be afraid to speak those three words. This world needs more love.

     And I can survive almost anything, with the love that I have grown for myself.

     Those three words I left unspoken, hurt more than the idea of failing to hear them fall from your lips...

     I love you