The only way to it
is through it.
Not around it.
Not over it.
Not pretending it never mattered.
Through it.
Through the replaying memories
that show up uninvited at 2 am.
Through checking your phone
knowing nothing new is there.
Through grieving the version of things
you thought would survive.
Because some endings don’t arrive loudly.
Some fade in slow motion
while you keep trying to revive them with hope.
And that’s the exhausting part.
Not the ending itself
but the bargaining.
The daily conversations with yourself.
The “maybe tomorrow.”
The “maybe if I explain it differently.”
The “maybe they just need time.”
Whole time, life is standing at the next door waiting on you, while you keep rebuilding a house
that already collapsed.
At some point,
you have to stop calling acceptance negativity.
Sometimes it’s wisdom.
Sometimes “moving on” isn’t bitterness.
It’s finally respecting reality
more than your attachment to potential.
Because delaying the inevitable
doesn’t change the outcome.
It only extends the suffering.
And every day spent circling the same pain
is another day delayed from becoming
who you were supposed to be after it.
That’s the hard part.
How healing isn’t always beautiful affirmations and motivational quotes.
Sometimes those things become distractions too.
Little comforts disguised as healing
that keep you attached to what you should’ve released.
Some survival habits are just waiting rooms
decorated to feel like progress.
Tiny comforts keeping you emotionally occupied
so you never fully detach.
Sometimes growth looks like sitting with the truth
without trying to negotiate it.
No hard feelings.
No revenge.
No dramatic exit.
Just understanding that every obstacle
is still pushing you toward the goal.
And some people were never the destination.
They were the fire
you had to walk through
to finally meet yourself on the other side.
And some were only meant to teach you
how to finally stop abandoning yourself
while trying to hold onto them.
Ashley Monae 