To the Version of Me Who Stayed Too Long

Dear You,

I know why you stayed.

You saw potential, not just patterns.

You wanted to believe things could shift—that love could be enough.

You weren’t weak. You were loyal.

Even when you were hurting, you kept holding on,

not because you didn’t see the cracks—but because you believed they could heal.

I want you to know:

There’s no shame in loving deeply.

There’s no failure in staying hopeful.

But I also want you to feel the truth in your body now:

You don’t have to keep choosing pain to prove your love.

You don’t have to abandon yourself to avoid being abandoned.

You deserve a love that doesn’t ask you to shrink to fit inside it.

Thank you for surviving that season.

You don’t have to go back.

With compassion,