self-worth
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The Strength in Breaking
He thought breaking me in half would make me easier to control. What he never understood was that each broken piece carried its own strength, and when I gathered them back together, I became something whole that he could never… Continue reading
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The Grief of Teaching Yourself Love
There’s a grief no one prepares you for – the grief of realizing you were never given the kind of love that makes you feel safe, and that you have to teach it to yourself from scratch. It isn’t loud,… Continue reading
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For Me. For Him. For Us.
I used to think healing meant finding the right words to make people understand. To explain why I stayed so long. Why I kept hoping. Why I kept trying to make it work when it was already broken. I wanted… Continue reading
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When Love Meant Disappearing: Grieving the Self I Had to Bury to Be “Enough”
There’s a grief that doesn’t announce itself loudly. It comes in quiet waves, often when you’re doing something ordinary – folding laundry, locking the front door, hearing someone say “I’m proud of you” in a way that sounds like they… Continue reading
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The Ache Beneath the Armor
It’s hard to ask for help when your trauma taught you that needing anything makes you a burden. So I don’t. I keep it in. I figure it out. I carry what’s too heavy because somewhere along the way, I… Continue reading
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He Measured Me Like a Threat
He used to stand in the doorway like a gatekeeper, arms crossed, eyes moving over me not with admiration, but with possession. There was something cold in the way he looked at me – like he was searching for something… Continue reading
Light Calls To Light 