One of the hardest things I’ve had to accept this year is that just because I see something beautiful in someone doesn’t mean that beauty is what they’re going to give me. I’ve spent so much of my life trying to understand people. Making excuses for their behavior. Looking past the things that hurt me because I knew there was a good person somewhere underneath it all. Convincing myself that if I just loved a little harder, stayed a little longer, or showed a little more patience, eventually they’d become the person I always believed they could be. But this year taught me something I wish I had learned a long time ago. You can understand why someone is the way they are and still recognize that the way they treat you isn’t okay. You can love someone with everything you have and still have to walk away. You can see someone’s potential and still accept that their potential isn’t their reality. And sometimes the most heartbreaking part isn’t losing that person. It’s realizing how much of yourself you lost trying to hold on to the version of them you created in your head. I don’t regret having a good heart. I don’t regret believing in people. And I refuse to let the things I’ve experienced turn me into someone who no longer sees the good in this world. But I’m learning that having a good heart doesn’t mean giving everyone unlimited access to it. I’m learning that forgiveness doesn’t require reconciliation. That understanding someone doesn’t mean excusing them. And that loving someone should never require abandoning yourself. Maybe the biggest part of growing this year wasn’t learning how to love people better. Maybe it was finally learning when to stop sacrificing myself to prove that my love was real. And if you’re learning that lesson too, I hope you know that choosing yourself doesn’t make your love any less genuine. Sometimes it just means you’re finally giving yourself the same grace you’ve spent years giving everyone else. * Shastin24 #HealingJourney #LifeLessons #SelfWorth #EmotionalHealing #KnowYourWorth - @shastin24