He made me feel like I wasn’t enough. Not pretty enough. Not smart enough. Not good enough. If I just tried a little harder, maybe he would love me the way I loved him.

So I changed. I wore what he liked. I kept my opinions to myself. I made myself smaller, quieter, easier to love. But no matter how much I changed, it was never enough for him.

One day, I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize myself. I had spent so much time trying to be what he wanted, I forgot who I was. That’s when it hit me: It wasn’t that I wasn’t enough. It was that he would never be satisfied—because his love was conditional.

Leaving wasn’t easy. But now, every day, I remind myself: I was always enough. I just needed to see it for myself.

           - Rya