I’ve, lately, limited a lot of people’s time with me. It’s been a tremendous and devastating time of loss for me because you turn around and look at your life and see the relationships you busted your ass for don’t really serve you, if ever. The fruits of your labor, if you will. I’ve had to transform my approach—I’ve had to do what the rest of you do: hiding my true feelings, never giving my opinion until asked, withholding, skirting. It’s the only real way people understand me. Some people are delusional enough to believe we’ve “gotten closer” (family), and in some ways maybe that’s true. But my actions in the relationship are empty, because it’s the only version of me you will accept. It’s a distance. My emotional distance widens. I am not a very giving person, I understand that about myself now.