Please Be Selfish

I begged my friend today to be selfish. Maybe it was selfishness in myself, but I just couldn’t handle it anymore.

No amount of abuse should ever be tolerated. No matter how much you want to give people the benefit of the doubt or give them a second chance, it should never come at the expense of your own physical, mental, or emotional health. We see heroes as people who sacrifice themselves for the good of someone else. And it’s true, they do. But sacrifice doesn’t make sense if the expense is greater than the gain.

Risking your life to save someone else’s is a fair trade. Staying up late to talk to someone going through a hard time is a fair trade. Standing up for what you believe in despite opposition is a fair trade.

Allowing someone to yell at you and make you want to die to avoid hurting their feelings is not a fair trade. Allowing abuse to make someone feel loved is not a fair trade. Keeping someone in your life who decreases your safety or health in order to not damage their self-esteem is not a fair trade.

If any of this is something you can relate to, if you’re avoiding hurting someone else’s career or esteem or feelings, please please be selfish. Please let them go. Let them out of your life and get the help you really need. Life is too short. Life is too short to allow yourself to be hurt.

I’m begging you to be selfish, just this once so that you can be safe.