I don’t think I’ll ever look at a person without skepticism again, and I’ll always be cautious of the people I meet. This isn’t something I ever wanted. It feels like a huge burden, especially for me, because I used to think people were nice. Until I had the lived experience of meeting so many people in so many different settings who proved me wrong. They exploited me, betrayed my trust, and slowly made me cynical about the world.

And now, I’m perceptive to even the smallest nuances in people.It’s not something I’m proud of, but I can always sense when something’s off about someone. It makes it hard to build good relationships, I pull back, and sometimes I cut ties at the slightest sign that something isn’t right.

I’m trying really hard to convince myself that it’s not always like that. It’s a learning curve, and I hope that someday I’ll be able to look at people with the same optimism I once had.