Now that you’re gone, nothing can stop me. I’m free to live my life the way I see fit; I’m free to think on my own and not worry about your opinion. Now that you’re gone, I feel light, like all of this weight has been lifted off my shoulders. You have become a burden, dragging me more and more into the ground. Everything I did, everything I wanted, everything I was – it was all according to you. Now I can finally breathe, and let go.

via Unsplash

Our relationship was explosive, but it didn’t start this way. At first, everything seemed to be going great, and you seemed to be a dream come true. Everything that I ever wished for, you checked all the boxes. But, as time went by, it all turned out to be a facade. Slowly, you have become controlling and pushy, dictating my every move. You wanted to have a say about who I was seeing, what I was doing, what I was wearing, said it was to protect me. And I, foolishly, bought it.

As a result, you followed me everywhere I went; became the constant voice in the back of my mind. Whatever it is that I did, you were always there to criticize it. Not physically, but mentally. And that might be the most awful of it all, that even when you weren’t there in person, I made sure to criticize myself in your name. Unfourtently, it took me time to see what was happening to me, what you had done to me. And even when I did, it was a hard habit to shake. It was only when we parted ways, and I entered a new relationship that I was able to leave it behind me. Now that you are gone, nothing can stop me, because you were what was holding me back.