I Stayed Too Long

Dear Delyara, In jobs. In conversations. In relationships. In emotional patterns. In rooms where I knew I was shrinking. I stayed because I was decent. Because I was hopeful. Because I thought endurance meant character. Because I kept believing if I was patient enough, understanding enough, mature enough, then eventually something around me would change in a way that justified all that waiting. A lot of it never did. That regret is hard to hold because it is not only about other people failing me. It is also about how often I kept helping situations remain possible by staying calm and loyal inside them when I should have left much sooner. That truth is bitter. Still, I would rather tell it than decorate it.