Some people will only remember the version of you they once felt comfortable looking down on.

Keep growing anyway.

You don't have to fight for their recognition or return to prove anything. Sometimes your progress becomes the answer.

And Just Like That... the ones who looked down on you now have to look up to see you.

— Johanna Sparrow®

Can someone love you and still fail to understand what you need from the relationship?

Yes.

Recognizing that doesn't require you to hate them or carry bitterness. It may simply require you to stop expecting a person to consistently give what they have repeatedly shown they don't know how to give.

Family can love you and still not know how to receive you. Accepting that truth doesn't require bitterness. It requires boundaries.

— Johanna Sparrow®

What happens inside you when someone you care about begins to pull away?

For some people, distance activates the urge to chase—to call more, explain more, give more, and work even harder for the connection.

But chasing doesn't necessarily create security.

Sometimes healing begins when you stop focusing entirely on getting the other person to come closer and start examining what their distance is activating inside you.

— Johanna Sparrow®