No One Is Required To Love You
No one is required to love you.
That might sound harsh but hear me out. I’m not saying you’re not worthy of love and care and all of those things that humans need. Not at all. However, I am saying that not everyone will see your worth, nor are they required to.
No matter how lovely and tender your heart may be, there is not another single soul who is responsible for seeing those qualities. For embracing your softness. For loving you. Just you.
Don’t let this scare you, though. Because this is what freedom is made of. It’s all up to you. No one else holds power over how you view yourself and your life. No one else can truly dictate your mood and feelings. All of that rests in your own tired hands.
And, sure, this is easier said than done. Believe me, I get it. But you need to do the work or you’re going to spend your life pretending to be someone you aren’t, attracting the wrong people, and ultimately breaking your own heart again and again and again.
Stop chasing people who will always outrun you. Stop waiting for someone else to put you back together and pick up your own pieces. Stop hoping becoming someone’s anything will make you something; instead, become who you are all on your own.
Pay attention to who you are when you’re alone. Listen to your inner calling. Gravitate towards what’s pulling you in. Listen to the music that sparks something in you and resonates with what you’re been through. Read what you want to read, not because you’ll look better on TikTok but because there is something about a novel, an article, or an essay that just compels you. Explore your peculiar curiosities with reckless abandon and don’t worry what anyone else thinks about it.
You need to learn who you are outside of others and invest in that person. Not someone you think others will love or see value in but the human being you truly are.
All of this said, you don’t have to walk through this life alone (and you shouldn’t). But when you finally commit to becoming your authentic yourself and loving that person, you allow yourself to be fully seen. And when you allow yourself to be fully seen, the right people will see you too. And they will stay not because they have to and not because they are required to, but because they choose to. Because they want to. Because they love you.