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You Can't Save Everyone, and Maybe That's Okay

What do you do if you're good for someone, but they're no good for you?

Do you stay? Do you risk your own well-being for theirs? Wouldn't it be selfish to abandon someone in need just because of your own needs? 

Where do you draw the line? When is it finally okay to put yourself first? 

Or, is it ever okay? 

Maybe it's time to stop trying to be everyone's hero. Maybe you really can't save everyone. 

I mean, you can't help somebody who doesn't try to help themselves, right? 

You can talk until you're blue in the face but you can't make them listen. You can look out for people, but you can't force them to stop running back to everything that brought them down.

You can offer everything they claim to be looking for and it still won't be enough. But why?

It won't ever be enough because people like that are empty. They are empty and they're searching for something that can't be found anywhere or in anyone else. 

So maybe it's time to stop questioning what else to do or what more you could say. Maybe the truth is that there really isn't anything you can offer someone who isn't even sure what they want.

Maybe it's not about how much you give, but how ready they are to truly receive it. If all of your strength and energy is being siphoned by someone who wants you to fix them, what good are you once you're empty anyway? 

So maybe that's when it's time to walk away.

When you start to feel responsible for their failures and their brokenness, when you feel like you aren't enough anymore, that's where you draw the line.

For more from rc, visit her writer's page here.