Life has a way of testing us, of showing us who will stay and who will leave when the road gets rough. For her, the losses were deeply felt—friends who drifted away, a partner who chose to leave, and family who didn’t understand her struggles. There were times when she wondered if their departure was a reflection of her worth, if their absence meant she wasn’t enough.

But in the quiet moments, when the tears stopped falling and the world around her was still, she began to realize a truth she had overlooked: her worth was never tied to who stayed or who left. It was in the fire she kept burning within herself, even when it felt like the world was trying to extinguish it.

This fire wasn’t loud or dramatic. It was the steady flame of resilience, of refusing to give up even when her heart felt shattered. It was in the way she got up every morning and faced the day, even when she felt broken. It was in the way she loved herself when no one else seemed to.

The people who left weren’t her failure—they were lessons. They taught her to value herself more, to stop giving her energy to those who didn’t deserve it, and to protect the fire within her at all costs. And the ones who stayed? They were gifts, a reminder that real connections are unshakable, even in the darkest times.

She wasn’t defined by who came and went in her life. She was defined by her courage to keep going, by the dreams she refused to abandon, and by the light that never stopped shining within her. That fire was her strength, her beauty, and her truth—and no one could ever take it away.