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Kind Note:
This episode includes reflections on emotional, mental, and sexual manipulation in a past relationship.
Please listen gently and only when you feel safe, grounded, and supported.
Your heart deserves care.

Episode Description:
In this episode, I return to a version of myself I haven’t spoken to in years — the girl who fell in love in high school before she understood what love was supposed to feel like. What began as attention and affection slowly turned into control, isolation, and the quiet erosion of my confidence and identity. I didn’t realize how deeply emotional and mental manipulation can take root until I was already inside of it, trying to hold onto something that was breaking me.

This is a story of staying too long and leaving slowly — of believing I could fix what was hurting me, of grieving the version of myself who didn’t know better yet, and of learning to recognize love that doesn’t require me to disappear to keep it.

It’s about the confusion of being seventeen, the fear of being alone, the guilt that keeps us quiet, and the soft relief that comes when we finally choose ourselves.

If you have ever stayed in a relationship you didn’t know how to leave, if you’ve ever lost yourself trying to be loved, if you’ve ever questioned your worth or your voice — you are not alone.