You Were Hopeful, Not Foolish.
I hate it when women call themselves dumb or foolish for the things that happened to them. Women who were gaslighted, lied to, betrayed, cheated on, and made to question their own worth often end up blaming themselves for not seeing it coming. But no, you were not dumb. You were not foolish. You were a good human being who chose to believe in the goodness of another. You were hopeful. You trusted. You gave people the benefit of the doubt because you believed their words meant something and their intentions were genuine. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Trusting someone is not a weakness. Being hopeful is not a character flaw. Loving someone sincerely does not make you naive, nor does it make you responsible for the choices they made. You are not at fault for believing someone who deliberately lied to you. You are not responsible for someone else’s decision to manipulate you, betray you, or break a trust they once asked you to place in them. The shame belongs...