20/08/2024
Whenever you find yourself starting to miss someone you really loved…
But perhaps someone who just didn’t appreciate you.
Someone who just didn’t care about how you felt.
Someone who you loved so much, but someone who just treated you like an option.
Stop for a moment, and remember…
Remember the disrespect.
Remember all the times when your feelings didn’t matter and were invalidated.
Remember how your worth was completely disregarded.
Remember when your boundaries were ignored time and time again.
Remember what they deliberately and knowingly did to break your trust over and over again.
Remember all the times you begged them for the basics and you begged them to treat you as though they loved you, but they still refused.
Remember how it made you feel.
Remember just how much it hurt.
Remember how disappointed you felt.
Remember how betrayed you felt.
Because this was real.
This was how you really felt.
This was someone’s version of love for you...
It’s normal to miss someone who you once loved, especially if the love you felt for them was genuine and ran deep;
but it’s so important to remember all of the reasons why the relationship didn’t work out, instead of just remembering the good times and the happy memories.
Respect yourself by remembering how you really felt, because in doing so you’re honouring yourself and validating your emotions.
Use these memories that were your reality to reassess and reaffirm your boundaries, values, and what’s important to you in a relationship.
Remember that you deserve to be treated with respect.
You deserve to be treated with kindness.
You deserve to be heard with empathy, love, and understanding.
You deserve to have your feelings and needs cared about.
And you deserve to feel emotionally safe because you trust the person you love to look after your heart and do the right thing by you.
When you’re in a relationship, these things are NOT optional extras.
They are the non-negotiable basic foundations!
Don’t allow someone who won't give this to you to continue to treat you less than you deserve.
And don’t settle for a love, that’s less than the love you deserve…
~ Mark Smith