Not everyone is going to like me. That’s fine. I’m not a limited-edition collectible begging to be displayed on everyone’s shelf.

But here’s what I’ve learned: if people are that quick to walk away, distance themselves, or toss a friendship overboard the second things get inconvenient, then maybe it was never as solid as they pretended it was.

Friendship isn’t supposed to evaporate the moment someone becomes complicated.

I know I’m not the easiest person to get close to. I’m anti-social in the way a feral cat is anti-social. I might stare at you from across the room for six months before deciding you’re probably not a threat. But I was trying. In my own awkward, inconsistent, emotionally exhausted way, I was putting in the best effort I had to give.

That should count for something.

And if your reason for disliking me has more to do with the rollercoaster that is my relationship, with all its sharp turns, ugly loops, and occasional engine fires, then honestly? That says more about your priorities than it does about me.

My relationship is mine to navigate. It has ups, downs, detours, potholes, and the occasional dramatic soundtrack. It’s messy because life is messy. Judging me solely through the lens of my personal relationship is like reviewing a whole movie after only watching the blooper reel.

A lot of people made their minds up about me without ever really trying to know me.

Not the real me, anyway.

Not beyond surface-level assumptions, side conversations, or whatever version of me was easiest to package into a convenient narrative.

And when being around a group starts to feel less like community and more like being tolerated at arm’s length, eventually you leave. Not because you’re dramatic. Not because you want attention. But because constantly feeling alienated is exhausting.

That’s why I left Discord servers.

Not out of spite. Not to make a statement.

I left because I was tired of feeling like an unwanted guest in spaces where I was supposedly welcome.

So no, you don’t have to like me.

You don’t have to understand me either.

But if all it took was discomfort, gossip, or my imperfect personal life for you to abandon what you called friendship, then maybe losing that connection wasn’t really a loss at all.

Sometimes people remove themselves from your life and accidentally do you a favor.

Funny how that works.