There are people you find it hard to confront—not because you’re weak or unable to do so, but because you don’t want to anymore. You don’t want to open doors you’ve closed or remove the calm you’ve built. But you also don’t want to make them feel like they are welcome again, or that their silence means nothing. Yet their images remain, and you ask yourself, how do you keep living? How do you think clearly? How do you manage your life?

You feel they were important, but they didn’t realize it. They appeared, left, and disappeared as if they were strangers. Their absence didn’t matter to them. They didn’t ask. They didn’t explain. And when they returned, it wasn’t because they missed you—it was curiosity. The difference is significant. Curiosity is very different from longing. The return of someone out of curiosity carries a harsh reaction. Because you simply experienced something that felt like the final blow—a painful and direct emotional hit.

The final blow works like a light switch. Suddenly, you realize how this person once had an effect on you, and it switches off.

As for understanding—it requires time. And we now want something else: to understand how the final blow occurred, and what caused its fall.

After the blow, you remain silent. Or you explain, but not with the same depth. You want to protect yourself. You want to signal that things have changed. You may wish to act distant, without fully leaving. Just to give yourself time and space, and maybe preserve your remaining dignity.

There’s a part of us that still wants responsibility, still wants to express. But it’s hard. The inner child doesn’t want to mature or let go. That child wants to stay where it’s safe—free from confrontation. He withdraws quickly. He deals with things logically, as if nothing is wrong. That’s the child within us that seeks comfort, not victory.

If you can’t confront them again, maybe it’s best that you don’t. Sometimes, retreat is the better option. Not because you’re weak, but because they don’t deserve another explanation. They didn’t value it the first time. And you—if you keep defending yourself to people who never tried to understand—you’ll lose yourself bit by bit. You’ll start to doubt your own reactions and your right to feel.

Final card to self:

Don’t reach the point of no return in any relationship—because once you do, you’ll lose everything.