Toxic Ties.

I used to believe that love was supposed to hurt, that family was supposed to fight and leave bruises you couldn’t see. I grew up learning that my feelings didn’t matter, that my voice was just noise in a room full of shouting. I swallowed anger, guilt, and shame like meals I didn’t ask for. ‎For years, I tried to be what they wanted a good daughter, a quiet daughter, an invisible daughter. And every time I failed, I believed it was me. I believed that maybe if I smiled more, worked harder, apologized faster and do everything just to please them I could earn the love that was always just out of reach. ‎ ‎After every hurt I reset and say it's now a new me but I can't seem to start afresh ,I can't seem to stop the voices in my head, I can't stop to shade a tear from all those flashbacks it's always like a fresh wound ,maybe because I wake up each day and hope they can be good people , maybe because I see good in everyone . I am human after all . ‎ ‎I will never forget where I came from, but I am not trapped there. I am learning that family isn’t always the people who raised you ,it’s the people who show up, who choose love, who see you as you really are. And for the first time someone sees me , I am beginning to be my own kind of family, starting with me. ‎I just want to learn something they never taught me. I am allowed to exist for myself. I am allowed to say no , to walk away , to cry without shame . I'm still healing , still untangling the knots they left inside me. ‎But everytime I reclaim a piece of me ;my voice, my joy, my boundaries it's like finding sunlight after years in a windowless room. ‎ ‎M24

Jan 09