I got rid of my best friend. He would tear me down constantly. He'd make me feel guilty about anything and everything I said, constantly said (and made me believe) that I was nothing/would kill myself without him, coerced me into sexual situations (when my husband and I were broken up LONG before our marriage), and in the time that I did actually *date* him, he cheated on me and then would go on about how I went behind his back. He enabled my borderline personality disorder and mania from bipolar disorder, and consistently took advantage of it. When I felt suicidal, he used that against me to tell me that all I did was drag him (and others) down and told me that he was better than I could ever be. He would threaten to abandon me because that thought terrified me. He then went so far as to leave for a while and I ended up being baker acted (two years ago). Many of his behaviors have been consistent from the time I was 14 up until now (I will be 20 in three months).

Six years of abuse. Six years of being made to feel like nothing. But I don't regret a thing. That was six years of learning and growth. Six years of learning that toxic people don't need to be in my life. I wouldn't ever go through that again.

Now I'm the one who's thriving. I'm the one who's at the top of my class. I'm the one who's happily married. I'm the one who's healthy. And him? He messages me with his sorrow and self-pity.

I feel so alive. Finally.