Flamboyant

Iron Heart

Atelier Versace haute couture fw 97, Christian Dior haute couture ss 98, Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture fw 03, Enfants Riches Déprimés rtw fw 24

“I can’t lose this person”

“There’s no one better out there”

“I have to make this work no matter what”

“If this doesn’t work I’m a failure”

And it shows in your behavior more than your words. You tolerate disrespect because you’re afraid of starting over. You ignore red flags because losing them feels worse than losing yourself. You think the more you struggle and hurt the deeper your love is. You overgive, overexplain and overextend just to keep someone around

You feel anxious when they pull away because you don’t believe you’ll find better. You stay loyal to potential instead of reality. You chase consistency from someone who has already shown you inconsistency. You make excuses for things you would never accept if you truly believed you had options

Scarcity in relationships looks like holding on tighter the worse it gets. It looks like confusing attachment with connection. It looks like choosing familiarity over peace

Some things you call “just who I am”are patterns you learned to survive. Alot of what feels natural to you was actually built in environments where you had to adapt, shrink, protect yourself

Here are a few examples

You thought you were “independent” but you struggle to rely on anyone because depending on others never felt safe

You thought you were “low maintenance” but you learned not to ask for much so you wouldn’t be a burden

You thought you were “chill” but you avoid conflict because speaking up once cost you something

You thought you were “an overthinker”but your mind is always scanning for what could go wrong so you can stay one step ahead

You thought you were “a people pleaser”but you learned that being liked was the safest way to stay accepted

You thought you were “emotionally strong” but you’re actually used to suppressing how you feel because no one ever held space for it

You thought you were “private”but opening up has never felt safe enough to try. None of these are flaws. They were intelligent adaptations that helped you navigate situations where you didn’t feel fully secure or supported