April 26, 2026

Dear Diary,

I'm going to start protecting my energy from now on. I'm tired of getting hurt by others. Tired of misrelying on people. I put my phone on permanent Do Not Disturb mode, with the exception of app notifications and the three people in my life who have earned my immediate attention. At this point, everyone else can wait.

On one hand it feels kind of harsh, but on the other I'm just kind of beyond caring. Nobody in my contacts (besides those 3 people) have ever put as much effort into me as I do to them, so I've deciding to accept letting things go where basic reciprocation isn't present. Maybe some people are just extremely slow responders and they still do care, and that's okay--but I've decided to let these people go too because it just doesn't match with what I need.

I'm exhausted. I don't have much left to pour into people and relationships at the same rate at which I've been giving. What's left is now only for the people who actually show up, and for myself, for once.