There's this thing that happens when you finally stop over-giving.
... when you finally stop over-giving.
At first it feels wrong, like you are being selfish by taking your energy back and you almost want to apologize for it because for years you trained yourself to prove your worth through how much you could carry ...
other people's moods ...
other people's pain ...
other people's chaos.
And when you stop ... it's quiet!
Uncomfortably quiet.
Like you are waiting for someone to be proud of you for finally choosing yourself.
But no one claps.
And maybe that's the point.
Maybe healing isn't supposed to look heroic.
Maybe it just looks like not texting first this time ...
.... not over-explaining.
.... not begging to be understood.
Maybe it's just peace that feels foreign at first.
You don't owe your softness to people who mistake it for supply.
You can love them from a distance and still mean it.
Because the truth is you were never too much.
You were just giving it to the ones who gave nothing back.
From Em James on Instagram
