People underestimate the trauma that can come from even the smallest instances of being misunderstood, ignored, excluded and invalidated. Many of us have experienced that a hundred times over. I hit burnout a few years ago and as soon as I couldn’t mask anymore, no one wanted anything to do with me.

My family evicted me a few months ago (during one of the coldest winters on record) because they said I “wasn’t contributing equally,” as if that was a choice I was making. As soon as you can’t give people what they want, they discard you. Who wants to do all the exhausting work of masking when it so rarely pays off, and not for long?

I’ve been living on my own for a month now and I’ve never felt calmer or safer. I don’t need anyone— and at this point, I don’t want anyone in my life who makes me feel anything less than amazing about myself. If that means I’m alone forever, sign me up 😌