14/11/2025
You don’t get a medal for staying.
I used to think you did.
I thought that sticking it out—no matter how unhappy, unseen, or misaligned I felt—meant I was strong.
Loyal.
Good.
I stayed in relationships far past their expiration date.
Not because they were working… but because I was afraid of what leaving would say about me.
I thought leaving meant I’d failed.
That I wasn’t trying hard enough.
That I was selfish.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
There is no prize for endurance in a relationship that breaks your spirit.
There’s no gold star for swallowing your truth.
There’s no award for abandoning yourself in order to be who someone else wants you to be.
But there is something powerful on the other side of choosing yourself.
It might look like grief at first.
It might come with fear, uncertainty, even shame.
But it also brings space. Relief. A quiet sense of returning home to yourself.
Leaving isn’t failure. It’s a reclamation.
A reclaiming of your needs.
Your joy.
Your boundaries.
Your worth.
So if you’re in a place where something in your life feels heavy, misaligned, or wrong—but you’re scared to make a change?
Let me say this clearly:
Staying isn’t always strength. Sometimes, the real strength is in leaving.
And no, you might not get a medal…
But you do get yourself back.
And that’s worth everything.
