It's always sad when someone says, "I wasn't always like this.": They're not explaining. It feels like they're just apologizing. Apologizing for the anxiety. For the fear. For the songs they skip. For the trust they ve lost. For simply needing space. They label survival as failure. They treat healing like a flaw. And it's sad because... because, once again, they become "the problem." So please, stop asking yourself to be who you were. That version didn't know what you know. But this one... this one does. Every version of us deserves love. The tired ones. The scared ones. The ones who're just... here. Especially this one. The one that learned the hard way and stayed anyway.