Let’s talk about it — the way we stay loyal to people who would leave us bleeding in the street if it served them better.
We tell ourselves they didn’t mean it, they’re just hurting, they’ll change, they love me underneath it all. We fight battles for them that they wouldn’t even bother showing up to fight for us. We defend them when they throw us under the bus. We let them hurt us, again and again, because loyalty feels like a badge of honor we’re scared to take off.
But here’s the brutal truth: loyalty to a toxic person isn’t noble. It’s self-destruction. Slowly. Quietly. Until one day you wake up and you don’t even recognize yourself anymore. You’re exhausted, angry, anxious, numb... and you’re still sitting there, waiting for them to be the person you built up in your mind.
You start betraying yourself just to stay loyal to them.
You excuse things you swore you’d never tolerate. You swallow your needs because you know they'll never meet them. You shrink yourself to keep the peace. You downplay your dreams, your feelings, your pain — all for someone who wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep if you walked away.
And the worst part?
They don’t even respect the loyalty you're bleeding out to give them. In fact, the more you stay, the more they take. Because they know you’ll bend. They know you’ll forgive. They know you’ll stay loyal even when they’re giving you scraps.
And before you know it... your soul?
It’s bruised. It's battered. It's tired.
You lose that fire in you — that part of you that was meant to grow, create, love, and live fully.
You become a version of yourself that isn’t even you anymore — just someone surviving around their chaos.
Here’s the thing no one tells you enough:
Loyalty is beautiful when it’s mutual.
When it’s not? It’s a slow form of soul-death.
Choosing yourself over a toxic relationship isn’t betrayal.
It’s resurrection.
It’s remembering you deserve the same love, respect, and loyalty you so willingly give to others.
It’s standing up and saying:
"I will not destroy myself to keep you comfortable."
It’s hard. God, it’s hard. You’ll second-guess yourself. You’ll grieve the version of them you hoped they'd become. You’ll mourn the loyalty you thought they deserved.
But when you finally rip yourself free?
You start breathing again.
You start feeling again.
You start living again.
And you realize your soul was never the problem.
You were just trying to pour it into a cup with a hole in the bottom.
Stop bleeding loyalty for people who wouldn’t even hand you a bandage.
Save that love for you. You’re the one who deserves it most.
