Calling it love

From Bella's Journal

You kept calling it love, even when it felt like

walking on eggshells. You kept giving chances,

thinking maybe this time they would choose you

gently.

But love does not make you afraid to speak.

It does not twist your words.

They did not forget your needs, they ignored

them. They did not lose control, they used control

and every time you tried to stand up for yourself,

they found a new way to pull you back down.

That was not love.

That was control dressed up as care.

That was manipulation hiding behind just enough

tenderness to keep you questioning yourself.

You are not crazy.

You are not too much.

You are not too hard to love.

Walking away from someone who made you feel

small when all you ever did was try is not a 

weakness. It is courage and you have every right

to start over, without apology.