loving yourself

I learned how to protect myself even from people important in my life— not because I loved them less, but because I was disappearing while trying to hold them. I learned how to be selfish, not the kind that takes, but the kind that closes doors gently before the storm comes in. I stopped explaining my silence, stopped apologizing for choosing rest, stopped bleeding just to prove I cared. Now I guard my peace like a fragile flame— not to keep others in the dark, but to finally see myself whole. And if loving me means respecting that distance, then this, too, is love— quiet, firm, and finally mine.