You Don’t Have To Text Him Back

You don’t have to fight back. You don’t have to answer him when he makes you mad. You don’t have to keep putting yourself through this.

You can end the games. End the bullshit. End the relationship. Right now. All you have to do is make a choice. You have to be strong enough to do the right thing instead of falling back into the same old unhealthy habits.

It doesn’t matter how much you have been through together. Forget about your history. Forget about your chemistry. Forget about how good things used to be in the beginning. Instead of making excuses for why you should stay with him, start letting yourself list out all of the reasons why you should leave.

You are unhappy for a reason. You have been crying yourself to sleep for a reason. You have been screaming at each other until your lungs burn for a reason. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Your relationship doesn’t have to be this complicated.

I know your instincts are telling you to reply to his texts, to fight again and make up again, to repeat this cycle until you tire yourselves out — but you have a choice. You don’t actually have to stay with him. You can leave him. You can delete his number. You can stop the pain instead of prolonging it.

You might feel like you don’t have a choice in the matter, like you have already made the decision to stay with him and cannot back out now, but it is never too late to leave. You can leave after five years. You can leave after you’re married. You can leave after you have children. You can leave if you want to leave. There might be barriers obscuring your exit, but nothing is stopping you. You have free will. You have your own opinion.

Don’t forget about your standards. Don’t forget how much you deserve. Don’t forget the way a healthy relationship looks after spending so much time in a toxic one.

You always have a choice.

When he sends you texts calling you a whore, you don’t have to answer.

When he accuses you of cheating even though you have always stayed faithful, you don’t have to argue.

When he comes home late without letting you know where he has been, you don’t have to grill him for answers.

When he screws up for the hundredth time, you don’t have to wait around for an apology.

You are allowed to leave. You are allowed to end this.

You don’t have to keep fighting for such an unhealthy relationship. You don’t have to put all of your effort into fixing things when you are better off leaving them broken.

This relationship is not the only one you will ever have. You are not in danger of dying alone if you walk away. You can date again. You can love again. But first, you have to love yourself enough to leave.