“When he stops calling, don’t ask his friends how he’s doing. It doesn’t matter. When he stops kissing your cheek, don’t ask him to spend the night. When he stops saying kind things, remind him that there are a million boys who call you beautiful and would die for the chance to even know you. When he yells at you for staying out too late, tell him that he does it so why can’t you? When he says something degrading, tell him to fuck off. Tell him that he has no respect. Tell him there is no reason for anyone to talk to you like that and you won’t stand for it. When he calls you crazy, explain kindly to him that just because you won’t take his shit does not qualify you as “psychotic.” It qualifies you as smart. And when he leaves because you defended your well-being, don’t hate him. Thank him silently. He taught you self-love. He taught you what it means to fight. He taught you what love isn’t. He taught you that crying on your bathroom floor and screaming for your mother to do something, anything to make the pain go away is a part of life. It does not make you weak. It does not make you crazy. It does not make you wrong. He taught you that life is full of mistakes and to keep repeating the same ones over and over is to be stuck on a merry go round of sadness. He taught you what you deserve. Remember that. Remember who you were before. Remember who you will become.”
— How to survive when everything he once did suddenly disappears
