Walking away didn’t feel powerful at first. It felt unfinished. Unanswered. Heavy with things you never got to say. But you chose silence because explaining yourself had only ever cost you more. You learned that closure doesn’t always come from conversation. Sometimes it comes from deciding you will no longer negotiate your worth. Self-respect can look like loss before it feels like freedom. But peace has a way of arriving once you stop begging to be treated gently.