We don’t want to be vulnerable. We don’t want to open our hearts. We want the other person to do it first. We hesitate to be authentic if it means risking rejection. But vulnerability means saying, I trust you with my heart and emotions, so I choose to show up with my truth.

We love similarities because they make connection feel easy. But relationships don’t thrive because two people are the same — they thrive because they know how to stay connected when they’re not. Differences are inevitable: communication styles, needs, pace, beliefs, boundaries.

Disconnection doesn’t start with love disappearing—it starts when we abandon parts of who we are to keep the peace or to be loved. Each time we silence ourselves, we step a little further away from our center—and our partner can only meet the version of us that remains present.

There’s real power in seeing, in recognizing and facing the truth that maybe, right now, you’re not okay. You might feel empty, sad, or lost. And that’s okay. This moment doesn’t define your life; it’s just where you are right now.

There comes a moment in every soul’s journey when we realize that survival has a cost. It’s not always paid in money, time, or energy… sometimes, it’s paid in pieces of ourselves. The parts we’ve silenced, suppressed, or tucked away just to keep going. For many of us, those abandoned parts are the most tender, vital expressions of who we truly are, the parts that once felt safe to feel, dream, or create before the world told us we had to be strong, realistic, or useful.

Because one day, everything you thought was solid simply collapsed. The foundation you built with so much care — gone overnight. You find yourself standing at the bottom, staring at the ruins of a life you spent years building, one step at a time.