So I have these pair of shoes. I bought them quite a while back and they took time to grew into but I loved them. They were pretty, cute, pretty cute. They would take me where I wanted to go and went with every outfit of mine.

Sure, they would bite here and there and I was always stuck retying the laces all the time to keep them from falling apart, but you know.

I loved them. They were my favorite shoes.

After a while though. They kind of started to hurt.

Like a lot.

I'd be in pain for days, cuts lining the side of my foot.

Some of my other friends had the same pair and I'd always ask them if they were hurting too.

Trying to be diplomatic and prideful, nobody answered at first.

But over time, they would run up to me, going off about how the shoes were just too.

Problematic.

And eventually, they stopped wearing them.

And you know, for a while, I was proud of myself. I was proud that I stuck with the shoes. I powered through. Despite the pain and all, I still walked in them wherever I went.

But should I have really been proud about that?

Sticking through something difficult that's going to improve the quality of your life because you know you're going to receive so much more than you give- is one thing.

Sticking through just to say that you've stuck through isn't going to get you any brownie points.

It just makes you stupid.

We make mistakes to learn, sure. But if giving more than you're ever going to receive exhausts you

Drains you

Kills you?

Then stop doing it.

If you don't want to completely cut it out of your life, take a break from it and see how drastically your life improves. The clarity will overwhelm you and you'll have room to surround yourself with people who actually give as much as they take and opportunities that reward you for all your hard work.

I know people pride themselves on taking the harder path, but you don't have to put yourself through unnecessary struggle just to prove something. I'm not talking about struggling to overcome an obstacle that teaches you. I'm talking about associating yourself with situations where the cons outweigh the pros.

Where the negatives outweigh the positives.

Because no matter how great you think your relationship with that object or person is,

Your mental and emotional health is worth so much more.

Sometimes, stepping down from a situation you don't think you can handle isn't a bad thing.

Distancing yourself from people you love because they don't make you feel good about yourself, is okay

Admitting to yourself that you are at the shorter end of the stick is the first step to a better future.

If it's really holding you down, let it go.

Set yourself free because nobody is going to do it for you.