Promise Me One Thing: That You Won’t Settle Anymore

Don’t settle for anything less than what you are worth.

To the friend who gave all of herself without thinking twice to the guy who never reciprocated, I want to tell you this, to scream in your face in frustration only because you weren’t listening. Your eyes were glossing over all his doucheyness. We could call his bluff from a mile away, and all signs were pointing to his emotional unavailability. But you decided you wanted to get strung along. You made excuses for all his one sentence answers to your texts. You swooned over his 100% deliberate and calculated grazes of your hand.

And now look where that got you. I’m not blaming you for any of it though. Please know that. In fact, I want you to know that I’m here. When you need me. When you feel like you can be yourself again. Because I know being yourself is the hardest thing to do for you right now – trust me, I understand that.

But you need to know that you are you and nobody can take that away.

You have to stop second-guessing yourself, and not feel like you’re not worth anybody’s time. He was wrong to rob that power away from you, and I’m sorry I didn’t see it fast enough to stop you from giving it up to him.

A part of me wonders what would have happened if you didn’t confess your feelings. Would you still have been playing the guessing game still with him? But I do not think that the end result would have been any different. That is just agony that I didn’t want you to prolong. The not-knowing. The constant poring over every single minute detail of his texts, trying to read between the lines even though there was obviously nothing.

Maybe I’m not the right person to make this judgement because I’ve never been in your position. To adore someone so much that you’d give anything for them. To love and yearn for the same kind of love in return. I haven’t met that person yet. Someday I hope I do. And I hope that at least I can practice what I am preaching right now.

I won’t settle. Even it means I have to wait forever. I’m not going to change myself just because other people tell me that I’m not the easiest person to get to know.

Someday someone’s going to make all that effort and break down my walls, and I’ll let them. Because they’re worth it too. And so are you.

You need to start believing in yourself again. It’s hard, but you can, and you will. Don’t settle for anything less than what you’re worth.

And don’t be a stranger. I’m here for you, however long it takes.