Welcome to From Trauma to True Love, the podcast where we break the cycle of painful relationships and build deep, lasting love you can trust. I'm Layla Reyes, a relationship coach, speaker, and author of Freedom From Shame, Trauma, Forgiveness, and Healing From Sexual Abuse. I'm here to help you release the invisible wounds from your past that may be holding you back from the love you truly desire. In each episode, we'll uncover the hidden patterns shaped by early childhood trauma, explore how they impact your relationships today, and guide you toward creating the partnership you were born to have. Whether you're looking to attract the one, deepen an existing connection, or finally feel safe in love, this is a space to discover what's possible.

Let's dive into your journey from trauma to life. I'm your host, Leila Reyes, and today we're embarking on a journey of one of the most challenging aspects of the healing process. At least that's what I found in my own healing process, identifying and freeing ourselves from the grip of the inner critic. So in our last episode, we tackled the heavy and critical topic of suicide prevention. And today I want to build on that foundation by addressing what often whispers in the dark moments of our struggles, of the struggles of people who are healing from sexual abuse.

It's the inner critic. And this voice, this relentless bully can keep us trapped in shame, hindering our path to healing and freedom. I'm using this podcast really as a platform to explore the distinctions in my book, freedom from shame, trauma, forgiveness, and healing from sexual abuse. And, ultimately, my intention is to help people who have been sexually abused get free from its impact on their lives. So let's talk about that inner critic, that abusive internal voice that tells us there's something wrong with us.

This is one of the impacts of early abuse. Having an inner critic is one of the impacts of early abuse. And it seems to me that there's a correlation, and I've been exploring this a little bit, a correlation between early sexual abuse, the development of the inner critic, and experiencing feelings of not wanting to live. So my intention for this episode is to explore that connection and to give a practice, to share practice with you to help you get free of the inner critic so it has it kinda loses its power over over you. With this said, I'm not a doctor.

I'm not a licensed therapist. I'm a coach with personal and professional experience in living beyond the effects of abuse, and I want you to be safe. So if you're concerned about yourself or someone you love, please reach out to a licensed therapist, call suicide prevention at 988, or text 74041 to get help now. Gordon, so let's jump in here a little bit with some background information here. Gordon Flay was my guest on the first episode of this season, and we discussed suicide prevention.

While this is a really difficult topic to begin the season with, I wanted to start with something that really matters and to offer information and help for anyone in the grips of depression and the aftermath of abuse. So if this is you, then I recommend that you listen to the first episode. There's tons of information, helpful information, and guidance around the warning signs to be on the lookout for and practical actions that you can take to create some distance from the inner critic. While preparing for this episode, I came across Tim Ferriss The Tim Ferriss Show, episode number four sixty four titled my healing journey after sexual abuse. And in this episode, Tim shares his very personal experience of being sexually abused between the ages of two and four years old.

And Tim contemplated what he shared about his contemplation of what regrets he might have if he were to die suddenly, something happened to him. And at the top of his list of regrets is that he would regret not having talked about the abuse and not having the opportunity to help others find the light and the tools to heal. He shares his own experience of what he calls a hair's breath of killing himself. And he shares what I believe to be the workings of the inner critic telling him that he was permanently damaged. Those were the words that he used.

And he also shared that he had lost hope. And I just wanna say thank goodness that he didn't kill himself because he has a message and purpose for sharing his story, which is to save lives. His message is clearly stated stated at the end of episode four sixty four, you're never alone, you're not uniquely flawed, and it's never hopeless. So if you haven't listened to that episode, then I really encourage you to take some time to listen to it. It offers a lot of a lot of inspiration for hope and continuing on and finding your way to make a contribution even, to heal and then make a contribution.

So, you know, you're never alone. You're not uniquely flawed, it's never hopeless. This is not something that an inner critic would tell you. Your inner critic would try to convince you that you actually are alone and that you are uniquely flawed and that it's absolutely hopeless. So I want to join Tim Ferriss in encouraging you to stick around.

It's not hopeless. There is help, and there are a lot of people who care. And if you reach out and give people a chance, then they will personally care about you. I wanna wanna guarantee that. Reach out until, you know, you find the right people to support you on your journey.

So this today's topic is is is focused all around that voice in your head that says things like nobody cares, and I'm here to tell you that it's a lie. Tim Ferriss cares enough to share his deeply personal journey, and so do I. I'll share more of my story a little bit later with the purpose of inspiring you to do whatever it takes to get freedom from that hurtful voice inside of your head. The inner critic tells you all kinds of lies and will bully you into believing that you don't matter, that you're unworthy, that you're unlovable, that you're bad because of what happened to you, or that you're not worth fighting for. And I want you to know that you are worth fighting for, that you do matter and to not give up hope.

Freedom is available to you. The inner critic leaves you feeling bad about yourself and isolates you from people who love you and from people who could help you break free from the inner critic's grip. And I want you to know that you did nothing wrong, that you have nothing to be ashamed of, and I want to give you hope for being able to create a future steeped in self love and acceptance. The internal voice, the inner critic, doesn't just whisper doubts. It shouts them, isolating us from our essence and from the world, making us feel utterly alone in our pain.

But here's the truth that I want you to hold on to, and I'll say this again and again and again. You're not alone. The inner critic, this abusive tyrant, is something that many of us on the heels of childhood sexual abuse contend with. Listening to the voice of the inner critic keeps you stuck in shame. And learning how to recognize the voice of the inner critic so you can stop it in its tracks is an important step in reclaiming your power.

Getting free from the inner critic is absolutely worthy of your effort, and it will take effort. It did for me. Absolutely. It takes a lot of effort to stop that voice, especially if you've been listening to it for a while. So when you when you learn how to identify the voice of the inner critic to catch it when it's happening, then you have the access will have access to the power to stop it.

By confronting our inner critic, we're not just silencing a bully. What we're actually doing is opening the door to self compassion, to a kinder way of being with ourselves. Imagine replacing the voice that once held you back into one that encourages and supports you, like an inner wise woman or an inner best friend. This transformation from an inner critic to an inner best friend is not just about healing. It's about thriving, about moving from surviving to living fully and deeply.

And, yes, it's entirely possible. You are capable of creating this profound change. When you know what the inner critic sounds like, then you can call it out when you hear its voice. And when you know what the voice sounds like, then you can start setting boundaries around what you give your attention to. This is a very important thing to do with that inner critic is to learn how to set boundaries to stop it.

As we're exploring this topic of the inner critic, it's important to be kind to yourself. You're in the process of identifying a narrative that hurts you, but the voice comes from inside of you, so be kind to yourself. If the voice is causing trouble, then you need to stop the voice while at the same time, in the very same breath, being very gentle with the part of you that created that voice. So let's have an agreement moving forward. Let's agree to see the inner critic clearly without shaming ourselves but also without being complacent in allowing that voice to continue.

If you haven't talked about your inner critic with other people, then you might not know yet that everyone has one. Everyone has an inner critic. This is a universal human experience to have an inner critic. However, my hypothesis is that the inner critic might be a little bit more verbose for those of us who have been sexually abused, but everyone has one. The beauty of what this means, again, like I said, I'd say this over and over again, is that, really, you're not alone.

You're not alone in this experience, but believing you're alone is what can make you feel isolated, prevent you from reaching out to other people who can help you even identify that voice even more clearly and give you ways of of setting those boundaries. And and then, you know, it it if you're isolated from that, then you there you are down the road to hopelessness. So you're not alone. But to know that you're not alone, you have to be courageous. Reach out to others or listen to podcasts like this one, like the Tim Ferriss show where everyday people like you and like me share our broken hearts and deep fears of discovering that maybe we don't matter, maybe we are alone, like that fear that's underneath it and not really knowing.

But we have to reach out to know, to get new evidence of our connection with other people. So bring some compassion to yourself by understanding that having an inner critic is not a sign of weakness. It's not a unique flaw in your character. It's a common struggle, a universal battle against a voice that has nothing to do with your true self. Now I've met some people who believe that the inner critic is just trying to help them be better and, you know, just kind of like, you know, it's back there.

That voice in there is just, you know, guiding you, trying to urge you on to do something better. Get better. Get better. Well, I'm not one of those people. I do not believe for a second that the inner critic is is your friend or your ally, but rather it's an abusive tyrant that bullies you into thinking that you're not good enough.

The voice is an echo of past hurts, criticisms, and fears, and there's no value in listening to the bully. You'll only end up feeling bad about yourself. And this voice, what I discovered in my own on my own journey is that this voice can be relentless and exhausting. So recognizing its harmful nature is crucial, absolutely crucial. In my own journey, I've seen how this voice can lead to real emotional and psychological pain spiraling into clinical depression, which is what happened to me.

And it's a force that can truly hurt us if left unchecked. So I want to share my experience of the inner critic. And what's really most interesting to me is that I didn't connect my experience of having this inner critic. I didn't connect it to the abuse that happened to me as a kid, like, where I where the voice originally got life, so to speak, or to the depression. I didn't connect it to the depression I experienced.

Not until looking back on it, like, having enough distance from it. I can look back on it and see the the pattern of it and and you know? So it can be difficult to make this connection in the beginning, and it it definitely was difficult for me. I did I mean, I didn't even know it until looking later. Looking back on it, I can see how intricately connected they are.

So one of my core fears has been about rejection and abandonment. Like, I was in the middle of a relationship ending and the perceived threat of abandonment by a partner was really more than I could tolerate. And this fear that was rooted in my past opened the door to my inner critic pretty much having a field day with my consciousness. The voice in my head, that inner critic, was berating me nonstop. And I heard this voice telling me to shut up, to go away, to hide.

This voice told me that I didn't deserve to live, and and it even told me that I would be better off if I was dead. So I started believing this voice. And over time, I developed many of the classical signs of clinical depression. I lost 30 pounds in a really short few months. I developed insomnia as the voice in my head was screaming over my need for sleep.

And I simply couldn't sleep. Even medication. I went to the doctor for to to help me get some sleep at night, and that didn't work. And I even started hallucinating. Lack of sleep will do that, I found out.

So really I was in in the grips of an extreme form of clinical depression that that led to feelings of suicide, that led to me not wanting to be here anymore. And so that's kind of that's what happened to me. And and what I want to say around this is that inner critic didn't care about me. You know? The inner critic was bullying me all the way and encouraging me to stay separate.

And the inner critic doesn't care about you either. But if you're listening to this, then there is a spark in you that wants to know that your life matters, that you matter. So here are some of the symptoms of that we would be looking at with that said get some help. And we talked about this in the last in the first the last podcast or the the last episode. So feeling like a burden, I certainly felt like that.

Feeling isolated. I had increased anxiety. I felt really trapped in the pain that I was in and no no way to get out of it. There can be an increase in substance use and maybe looking for a way to access a way to a way out. There might you might even experience an increase in anger or rage or having some extreme mood swings, maybe even some hopelessness or, you know, for me, was sleeping way too little.

But sleeping too much is also one of the things to look out for, some of the warning signs. So talking about wanting to die or posting it somewhere on social media maybe, you know, or making plans. Like, how how will I end this? So if any of those things, I just wanna reiterate what we talked about in the last episode call 988 or text 741741, call a therapist, get support. Because this when you're when this is the result or the impact of the voice of your inner critic and not the reality of your value or potential in this lifetime.

You can you can get beyond this. I did. You can do it. So at the time that I was going through this, I was listening to the inner critic, it was a loud obnoxious voice. And but there was still a part of me underneath that knew I wanted to live, knew that I that there was something else there that I wanted to experience, love, connection, knowing my value, making a contribution, having an impact.

And so one of the things that I did in the morning, I would get up in the morning, and I would go for my morning walk around a little hike, and I used speed dial to connect with suicide prevention. And they were my lifeline. They listened. They sat with my grief. They sat with my tears, my insecurities, and they held me in love just enough to get me through the day.

I did end up speaking with a therapist who helped me get the inner critic out of my head and in front of me. And I think this is a really important way or tool that helps to because what the inner critic is in an internalized voice that says I'm there's something wrong with me or I'm not good enough or whatever that is for you. And so to externalize it, to get the voice out of your head and in front of you. So this therapist guided me to see a vision of the inner critic in front of me. And so I could externalize this and and and get a little separation from from the sound of its voice.

And she guided me to imagine holding a samurai sword, and she instructed me to cut its head off. And the so the inner critic had something to say, and as soon as it spoke, she had me cut its head off. So the first time that I did this, it felt pretty violent. It felt unfamiliar, uncomfortable. But the inner critic was being so mean to me that I, you know, I just I I was willing to follow her guidance.

And so I used this you know, she had me use this technique to over the next couple weeks when before meeting with her again. And I used it probably 500 times a day. She gave me an assignment to set a zero tolerance boundary with the inner critic, and this was lifesaving for me. So over that next couple weeks, I cut the head of the inner critic off at least 500 times a day. And what would happen is the inner critic would say something, I would cut its head off, and then guess what happened?

Well, you would you would think that it would, you know, get the message, but, no, in the beginning, it just grew another head and kept right on talking. So I with this zero tolerance boundary with the inner critic, I cut the head off of the of the inner critic, know, many, many times. Like I said, 500 times a day is probably not an exaggeration. Took a lot of effort for sure. So it opened its mouth, and I sliced.

So with consistency and over time, the inner critic lost its power over me. So, you know, today, I'll say that, yeah, I still have an inner critic, but its head is kinda the size of a tennis ball if you can imagine. It used to be this big huge head that, you know, booming voice. And over time of consistent slicing its head off and setting that boundary to not listen to its voice, the head shrunk to the size of this tennis ball, and its voice kinda changed as well. So it it sounded more like this.

It sounded like I'm you know, it's in a way that I couldn't take it seriously. So with this little tiny tennis ball head and voice, you know, it was really hard to take it seriously at that point. And not only that, it it lived. It kind of it got scared of me, and it lives on the other side of a mountain. So it's afraid of me living on the other side of the mountain with a little tiny head and a little tiny voice.

So today, with consistency in in that practice, I'm happy to say that the impact of this voice on my life today is more like a pesky mosquito that barely takes a drop of blood. It's very easy to just swat it away if it if it does come around, and it doesn't come around very often anymore. So this is a this is something that you can take and use. You know? You in your own life, if the inner critic is bullying you, and I can give you these suggestions.

I can I can guide you and give you tools to stop the inner critic, but you're the one who has to do the work? You're the one that has to set the boundary. You're the one who has to follow through. So bringing the first thing that is important to do here is to bring awareness to that voice in your head. Is it kind?

Listen to it if it's kind. Is it abusive? Cut its head off. And cut its head off as many times as it opens its mouth. Silencing the inner critic requires, it demands strong and consistent boundaries.

But over time, you'll get really good at noticing whether you're speaking kindly or unkindly to yourself. And I should point out that if you do notice that you're speaking unkindly to yourself, don't beat yourself up for that. Don't be unkind for being unkind to yourself. Just stop it. Stop the voice.

Another way that I've helped people stop the inner critic is using an analogy, and I love this. I created this while working at the Center for Domestic Violence. I helped women fill out restraining orders against an abusive partner, and I acknowledge that, many people the majority of the people that I worked with were women. There were some men. But the majority of them were women that came in to fill out restraining orders.

And I then would accompany them to court to get the judgment. And the judge almost always addressed the woman directly saying that a piece of paper would never could never keep them safe. And the advice from the judge was always that the only way to enforce the order was to call the police if the order was violated. And if you have an inner critic that's out of control, then I suggest that you file a restraining order against the inner critic and in a zero tolerance policy. I enforce my zero tolerance tolerance policy by stopping the voice every time it's it opens its mouth.

And stopping it wore me out, but it also saved my life. So it was worth the effort, and it will be worth your effort as well. I really believe that I'm alive today, and I'm contributing to the health and well-being of others and and that that is worthy of the effort of stopping that voice. And I'm not depressed anymore. So this is my I really wanna encourage you to employ some kind of method if you wanna use this.

Steal my method of the samurai sword or find one of your own, but stop the voice. Once you're able to recognize the voice of the inner critic and catch it when it's happening, then you can start to replace. You know, it takes a while. I I couldn't replace the inner critic with a inner wise woman or inner best friend until I kind of got a little bit more distance with it. So once you've you have a little distance from the inner critic and consistency in stopping the voice, then you can call forward a much better voice.

You know, the inner critic is gonna judge your every move, whereas your inner wise woman is a true friend who doesn't judge you at all but instead loves you unconditionally. She's like a best friend that guides and directs you. And you know what? She'll even kick your butt if you need it, but, you know, you're gonna feel loved and valued instead of dismissed and minimized. So think about it for a minute.

How would you treat your best friend? This is the aspect of yourself that would be most beneficial to you. You know, you would tell your best friend to not listen to that hurtful voice. I know it. You would tell your friend to ban the inner critic and so and stop it.

Don't listen to that. It's a lie. And so I really want to encourage you to do that for yourself, to ban the inner critic and invite your inner wise woman or your best friend to come forward and and be with you. I'm gonna take you through a short meditation to connect with your inner wise woman best friend. And then before we end, I'll give you a link to the recorded meditation so that you can listen to it again.

So this meditation takes just a few minutes, and it will help you make a deep and lasting commitment to yourself as your own best friend. So let's go ahead and do that right now. Of course, if you're driving or you're in a place where you can't close your eyes or settle in, then you might wanna listen to this a little bit later. But if you are in a place where you can close your eyes, then I'd like to invite you to do that now. Take some slow deep breaths and feel the rise and fall of your chest.

Which with each breath, feel the air enter in through your nose and hit the back of your throat, and draw your breath all the way down into your belly, filling it with air. And notice how gently your breath leaves and and enters your body. There's nothing you need to do. Stay with your breath for a moment. Put your hand on your heart, and imagine that you're in a beautiful place in nature, wherever that is for you.

And in your mind's eye, take a look around and notice that there's a meditation cushion that's prepared just for you, a place where you can sit, feel safe and comfortable. Maybe it's a tree stump or a big rock or maybe it's a cloud or maybe it's just the grass growing. You're gonna go sit on the grass. But whatever it is, this space was made just for you, Comfortable place for you to rest and be still. Make your way over to this seat and settle in and take a few more slow breaths.

With your next breath, call forward the part of you that knows how to be a best friend. This is the part of you that loves deeply, that loves you deeply, that laughs at your jokes. This is the part of you that knows all the difficulties, all the joys you've experienced in your life, and the deeper meaning behind everything that's happened. This is the part of you that knows the mistakes you've made, the shame you've felt, the judgments you've had, and they love you anyway. This best friend is completely committed to you remembering who you really are.

This is the part of you that wants you to be happy and successful and prosperous. This best friend wants you your highest good and supports you fully no matter what. So imagine that this part is coming towards you, walking towards you, and as this best friend comes forward, notice what this part of you looks like. Notice what they're wearing. Oh, how do they carry themselves?

Notice the energy that this part of you embodies and invite this part of you, this inner best friend, to come and sit across from you to settle in. Looking into the eyes of this part of you, take a breath together. Maybe take a few breaths together. Now ask this part of you, this inner best friend, to give you their name and quality that they represent. Maybe it's Compassionate Carol or Loving Linda.

What is their name? And then take another breath and sit with this kind part of you. And knowing that this is coming from love, ask this part of you to show you the cost of not committing to yourself, of not aligning with this best friend part of you, this nice, you know, way of being towards yourself. Ask this part, what's the cost of not aligning with choosing best friend over inner critic? Does it cost you your happiness, your self esteem?

Your ability to connect with your highest self? Does it cost you your joy? And notice what that cost is without any judgment. Just noticing. With your next breath, ask this part of you, what action can I take today that will support me in making a commitment to myself, to the most sacred part of me so that I can let love in, let connection in so that I can be free and listen to the what this part of you has to say?

And No judgment. And then one more question. Ask this part of you, is there anything else I need to know right now? And notice what that is without any judgment. And take a few more breaths, noticing just everything that you've heard and seen and felt.

And let's look at the commitment that you might be willing to make now. If you're willing to make this commitment to be your own best friend, take another breath and imagine looking into the eyes of this part of you and repeat these words. I make this commitment to you to take you as my best friend forever, to treat you with kindness and respect. I commit to loving you and supporting you in your time of need. I'll play with you when you need a break.

I'll laugh with you when you're too serious. Any other commitments that you wanna make to this part of yourself, being there for yourself Until this part, you don't have to be perfect with me. I'll love you no matter what. I'll be real with you and with others. I'll be brave showing up fully as myself.

And I'll make this commitment each day of my life. With another breath, let this part of you respond and feel their commitment toward you, how it's always been there even if you didn't know it. And listen to this inner best friend and what this part has to say to you. Notice how this wise woman best friend has just been waiting for you to choose her, to orient towards her, to let her in, and let this part of you say anything, everything that you've longed to hear about how loved you are, how you belong, how worthy you are. Continue to breathe slowly and easily down into your belly.

And now take another slow deep breath. And when you're ready, open your eyes. If you have a pen or pencil handy, you might wanna write down any awarenesses that you have. And if you don't, just contemplate them for a moment, making yourself your own best friend. Take a few more breaths and bringing your attention back into this space with your eyes open.

If you haven't already opened them, open them up and notice the room that you're in and feel your feet on the ground. Maybe stretch a little bit. You know, breaking up with the inner critic and entering into relationship with your inner wise woman best friend takes time. But with consistency, you will develop a kinder inner voice to follow, and take you a lot further in life than that in than than that bully. So here here are three things that you can do over the next couple weeks to leave the inner critic and move toward your inner best friend.

The first is listen to this meditation once a day for five days in a row. And you can find this meditation on my website at leilareyes.com/best-friend. And that's leila reyes, l e I l a r e y e s, w w w dot leila reyes dot com forward slash best dash friend. So listen to this meditation several days, five days in a row just to really get connected more deeply with your inner best friend. The second thing that you can do is to get better at recognizing which voice is in your head.

Is it the inner critic, or is this voice your inner best friend? And so you'll need a journal or something to track your awareness with. To begin with, you can set a timer and check-in with yourself every hour, every couple hours or two or three times a day. You want to notice, though, if your inner dialogue is harsh or kind. And take a few minutes each time to write down the messages that you are hearing so you can get real clear on which ones.

Maybe even write a draw a line down the center of your page and put the inner critic messages on the left side of the page and your inner best friend messages on the right side of the page. The purpose of this exercise is to help you become more aware of which voice is speaking to you and how often. So you'll only need to keep this journal until you have a clear picture of which voice is most dominant. And, you know, maybe even a little longer to see the change in that voice over time as you continue to bring your attention and to cut the voice of the inner critic and choose in favor of your inner best friend. So you'll start to notice over time that there's gonna be more and more best friend messages showing up on the right side of the paper and less and less of the inner critic messages on the left side of the paper.

So the third thing that you can do, and this will help with that transition of of more voices on the right side of the paper, is to redirect the voice of the inner critic. It could be doing what I did, cutting its head off every time you hear a negative message. In the beginning, you might only be able to stop the voice, but over time, you'll be able to direct your consciousness by replacing consciously replacing the inner critic narrative with the message from your inner best friend. Messages like, I love you, sweetheart. I'm here for you.

You belong to me, sweetheart. It's your birth we get to we all get to make mistakes. You know, if you make a mistake, instead of berating yourself, you know, making mistakes is my birthright. I get I get to learn. I get to learn from mistakes that I make.

Doesn't mean I'm defective if I make a mistake. Those kinds of messages. What would you say to your best friend in any of these situations? You can always use that as the guide and to to a guide to direct you towards your own consciousness and and the voices that you sound that you want to listen to. Right?

The voice, the message that you want to consciously choose to give attention to. So, you know, like I said earlier, some people believe that the inner critic has good intentions. And maybe at the beginning, it started out with good intentions or helped you in some way. But today, it gets in the way, it only gets in the way of you loving yourself, and it gets in the way of you receiving the love, acceptance, and nourishment from others as well. So before I learned the statistics of how many of us have been sexually abused as kids, I thought I was all alone, like, completely.

I really thought I was the only one that this ever had happened to. And the most important message that I can leave with you today is that you're not alone even with the the voice inside your head. There are many people who have gone before you and have made the commitment to shine the light on this trauma so you can find your way back home to yourself and to your essential being, to the truth of who you really are. So if you would like to learn more about me, maybe purchase my book that's coming out soon, or explore how I can help you on your journey, please reach out to me at Layla Reyes dot com. And I'm very thankful to have this time with you, and I wish you a healed heart that feels safe to love fully.

And I'll see you next time on Courageous Conversations with Leila Riaz. Thank you for joining me on this episode of From Trauma to True Love. I honor your courage for being here, taking steps towards the love and connection that you truly desire. I've been there too, stuck in painful patterns, longing for love but unsure how to create it in a way that felt safe, real, and lasting. You don't have to figure it all out on your own.

If you're ready to explore what's been holding you back and discover what's truly possible for your relationships, I would love to support you. Visit Leila Reyes, l e I l a r e y e s, Leila Reyes, and schedule a call today. We'll take the first step together toward the deep, meaningful love that you were born to have. I can't wait to connect with you. Until next time, take good care of yourself and know that real, lasting love is within your reach.