I was always told that people are going to walk out of my life. That people are going to hate me for the person that I am. That some people only care about themselves and don’t care about who they step on. I knew all these things long before any of it happened to me, but it still didn’t prepare me. No amount of words could prepare me for how I would feel when I was stabbed in the back. Nothing could have been said to prevent the critics from tearing down everything I had. Not a single thing could have stopped people who I once considered my friends from leaving my life.

Nothing hurts more than when people despise you for the person you are. When you forgive their faults, and welcome them into your life with open your arms, all they gave in return was hatred. It may not happen at first, I know it didn’t for me, but there are some people that will hate you and leave you with the only explanation being they don’t like the person you are. These kinds of people should have never deserved your trust and respect to begin with. You will watch them tear you down and then walk away, like all the moments you shared were nothing. In many cases, there will be no real reason, no point to your pain and no method to their madness. All that matters to them is that your gone, and that’s all they care about.

At first, the pain you experience from such a betrayal is heart-wrenching. You’ll remember both the good and bad times and find every possible reason to put the blame on yourself. You’ll think of how things should have worked out better, you’ll wish that those people would have actually cared as much as they claimed they did. Once you come to the realization that there’s nothing you could have done to change the outcome, you might want to chase the ones who deserted you. You’ll try to win them back. Maybe there’s a chance you can reclaim what you once had.

No. No, you shouldn’t chase them. No, you shouldn’t put in even a slight amount effort for the people that won’t give any back. Let them go. But you love them? But what about the good times? But what about the things that made you so happy? But wasn’t that one person the reason you got out of bed every morning? What about the time you saw them at their best? None of it matters to them. Those times are in the past, and those people are gone.

There’s only one thing to do, one choice to make: are you going to forgive them? You could easily harbor their hate within yourself and never forgive them, but you could also forgive them and forget them and move on. Forgiving someone is NOT a sign of weakness, if anything it is a sign of strength. The act of forgiving someone is showing you are the bigger person and willing to accept what has happened, instead of dwelling on it. It’s not easy to forgive the people who rip your heart out and spit on your image but in the end, it’s the only way you will stop thinking about it. Do not chase those who run from you-- they did not deserve your effort then, and certainly do not deserve it now. Let them run. Let them run straight into the arms of someone who will do to them what they did to you. Let them run into a world where you are not there. Let them run into the realization that they never deserved someone like you.