I changed my name

Celine was not the name I was given at birth.
It’s the name I gave myself to become the woman I aspire to be.

It might sound strange to leave behind an entire identity. To erase a past so thick it almost feels like it never existed.

I’ve had friends who stood by me through the darkest times, and I will always be grateful to them. But when the darkness itself keeps clouding your world, sometimes the only way out is to leave your old self in the ruins and start over.

So I did.
I left her in the rubbles and walked away.
I was not going to take her along for her to drag me down with self pity.

That's when Celine was born.

I don’t know my past anymore. I only know the future, and I’m never going to stop building it, with a light that I leave on for the friendship that helped a lost soul during the darkness.

Not every version of you deserves to come along for the journey. Some are meant to stay in the ashes.

I gave myself a new name simply to remind myself that I’m not the same person anymore. I shouldn't be.
The girl I was had to end for the woman I was meant to be to exist.

With that being said, you don’t have to rename yourself to be reborn. You just have to recognise when your old self is refusing to grow, and choose to begin again.

If you’ve ever outgrown your old self and dared to start again, you’ll understand that reinvention isn’t running away. It’s finding clarity in becoming who you were meant to be.