The Little Things

Chapter 8.

A Love Unreciprocated: Finding Your Strength and Self-Worth

If you are in love with someone who cannot love you back at the moment, please understand that this is not a reflection of your worth. Sometimes life weathers people in different ways. We are all on this Earth just trying to figure ourselves out, just trying to mend the breaks in our souls, trying to deal with what is heavy within us. Sometimes, we're ready and another person is not. Sometimes, we try, and another person does not. Sometimes, we pour ourselves into another human being and they cannot contain all that we are. Sometimes, we fight, and another person surrenders. Sometimes, we choose to make things work, and another person decides that they cannot choose that same reality. And that is okay.

Because at the end of the day, if someone does not meet you where you are, you cannot keep asking them to do so. If someone cannot reciprocate your love, if someone cannot give you what you truly deserve, you have to understand that aching for them to do so before they are ready is a form of self-destruction. Your heart is a vast and tender thing, you cannot keep trying to shrink it into what someone else needs. You cannot keep pouring your love into a vessel that cannot contain it. You cannot keep pouring your love into a soul that has not opened its eyes to all that they are receiving. You cannot keep pouring your love into a heart that is closed off to it. It will only leave you empty. You have to walk away. You have to let this person grow on their terms because you can't love someone to their potential. You can't love someone into being ready. They have to do that on their own.

And yes, it is so achingly difficult to walk away from someone you deeply care for. It is so hard to lay all of that love down, to close your heart off to all that it sees in another human being. But in walking away, you will learn how to pour all of the love that you were giving to the wrong person, back into yourself. And you will learn how to pour it into all that you desire in life, you will learn how to pour it into your growth, into your art, into your hope. You will learn how to stand up for your feelings, and how to stand up for their value. And when you teach yourself that you deserve to be loved, without having to beg for that love, without having to chase that love down, you open yourself to the kind of beauty that chooses you just as freely as you choose it. You open yourself to the kind of people who see you and immediately know that you are a rare and beautiful thing. You open yourself to new beginnings, to a future that unfolds in ways that don't hurt or break you down, but rather, build you up, and show you just how worthy you are of having your heart held.

It's crucial to understand that love, true love, should never be about diminishing yourself. It should never be about giving away so much of who you are that you become a shadow of your former self. Love should not be a battleground where your heart is constantly at war, where your soul is perpetually in conflict, fighting to be seen, to be cherished, to be valued. Love should not be a plea, a cry for acknowledgment from someone unable or unwilling to give you the depth of affection you deserve.

You are not a second option. You are not a placeholder. You are not someone who should be waiting in the wings, hoping for the day when the person you love will finally be ready to love you back. You deserve someone eager and willing to meet you in the middle, someone who is ready to embrace the fullness of your love without hesitation, without reservation. You deserve someone who recognizes the light within you and is not afraid to bask in it, to reflect it to you, to amplify it in every way possible.

Walking away is an act of courage, a testament to your strength, a declaration of your self-worth. It is not a sign of weakness, nor is it a concession to defeat. It is a powerful affirmation that you are deserving of a whole love, a pure love, a love that is reciprocated with the same intensity, the same passion, and the same devotion that you are willing to give. It is a promise to yourself that you will no longer settle for anything less than what you truly deserve.

As you navigate this journey of self-discovery, remember that every step you take away from unrequited love is a step towards a brighter, more fulfilling future. It is a step towards self-love, towards self-respect, towards a life where you are not defined by the absence of someone else's love, but by the presence of your own. It is a step towards recognizing that you are whole, you are enough, and you are deserving of a love that is as vast and as beautiful as the universe itself.

In the end, the love you seek is not something that can be forced, coerced, or manipulated. It is something that will find you when the time is right when you have learned to love yourself so completely that you no longer feel the need to chase after those who cannot see your worth. It is something that will come to you when you least expect it when you have finally let go of the pain, the longing, and the heartache of unreciprocated love. It is something that will fill your heart with a joy so profound, a peace so deep, that you will wonder how you ever lived without it.

So, hold on to hope, hold on to the belief that you are worthy of a true love, a love that is reciprocated, a love that is as vast and as infinite as the stars. Hold on to the belief that you deserve to be loved for who you are, without having to change, without having to shrink, without having to beg for it. And remember, above all else, that you are worthy, you are enough, and you are deserving of all the love this world has to offer.