I lost respect for a lot of people this year.
Not in a loud or dramatic way. Not with confrontations or explanations or big emotional exits. It happened quietly. Slowly. The kind of realization that creeps in after you have defended people one too many times.
I kept telling myself they were just having a bad moment. A bad phase. A bad year. I kept giving them the benefit of the doubt because history made it easier to forgive patterns that should have been addressed a long time ago.
But eventually, the excuses ran out.
They did not change.
They simply revealed themselves.
Their actions spoke clearly once I stopped filling in the silence for them. Once I stopped translating disrespect into misunderstanding. Once I stopped lowering my expectations just to keep the peace.
It is strange how much clarity hurts at first. You mourn the version of people you thought existed. You grieve the relationships you believed were mutual. You realize some connections were built more on convenience than care.
And yet, there is relief in that truth.
Because knowing who people truly are saves you from hoping they will become something else. It teaches you where to place your energy and where to stop pouring from an empty cup.
This year did not make me colder. It made me more aware. More intentional. More selective with my trust and my time.
Losing respect was not the loss I thought it would be.
It was a lesson.
And lessons like that change how you move forward, even when they hurt.