at my lowest, i realized that no one was going to save me every time life got hard. i had to learn how to comfort myself, wipe my own tears, and keep going even when i felt broken. it hurt to see that some people only stayed when things were easy and disappeared when i needed them most. but through that pain, i learned to stop depending on others for the love and support i was not getting. i started giving those things to myself. and while i never wanted to learn that lesson the hard way, it made me stronger. because when everyone else left, i discovered that i could still count on me.