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Every day is a reminder of how strong I truly am when it comes to this. I guess if the situation was handled by someone else, they would have allowed the Legos to fall a long time ago, said those 3 words and gotten carried away with emotions and careless actions. But I can’t let that happen. We are great at what we are and what he wants is what we are right now. The question of if and when we would be more has crossed my mind so many times my brain is numb. The fact that his smile could undress me is paramount. And the scent of his skin (not his cologne) makes me dizzy with anticipation of touching him. The reality is that there are so many men out there is known to me. But why wait for him? Because he is worth it. And the worst thing that could be said is known. I have been strong enough to keep how I really feel to myself, and I know I will be strong enough to continue doing so. It’s spending the night, insatiable passion and deep conversations fit for friends that have been so since they were toddlers. No denying that the love I feel for him is stronger than 100 spider webs, but I can’t help but wonder; am I making a mistake?

*At this point I was dealing with a lot. I was never the type to be dating more than 4 people at once to be honest. Never really keeping long drawn-out connections because assaults would happen and distract my focus. I think looking back now it was imperative that I focused on what was in front of me. I lost a lot getting depressed about being strung along by so many different adventures in life. I was living in my apartment in Syracuse at the time. (1/7/25)

• A poem written to myself when I needed it the most. I was going through such a rough time. I had a boyfriend that refused to read my website or my writings or ever really recognize my trauma and try and be someone that gave me continual unconditional love. I needed that. As always.

Do not allow yourself to complete someone else’s dream.

You are not here for them.

You are something without them.

You are anything without them.

You are everything with yourself.

All is but an addition if it not be your children.

You are magnificent.

You are regal.

You are unattainable due to lack of strength in them.

You are precisely abundant in faith.

Abundant in joy.

Abundant in love.

Abundant in life.

You are something special without them too.

Just know you can be better.

And being better takes time.

It takes willingness to see the side of yourself that has fallen.

It is they who have deceived you into thinking you cannot get up.

You can get up.

You will get up.

You are quintessence.

And on we move. Let’s not even consider it a breath of air that we need to be in the same space with.

One thing I hated the most was seeing all these pictures of women on IG who ‘lost weight’ and actually comparing myself to them. (Yes, I have done that too).

Not knowing that the presentation was only for show. It wasn’t real most of the time. Most of them were women who were exaggerating the weight they lost, manipulating photos or having shortcut surgeries. I felt like none of those were options. Because in the end, not one would come out to serve me.

Ancient insecurities spoke evil in my ear. “You can’t.” I told myself I would be fine if I just ‘did what they did.’ They being the general conglomerate of people who had a disposition nothing like mine. See the insanity? That was in the beginning.

I learned that I needed to do more. I needed to know more. I needed to ultimately prove more to myself. I was not what those ignorant bitches (who didn’t know shit about me) called me in the break room. Little did they know my fat (and non-fat) ass would sand those bitches down like 100 grit. But I kept it to myself. I played the role ‘he’ told me I should play.

After all, that’s a large part of what got me here in the first place. All the ‘he’s’… constant pleasing of the ‘HE’, Never truly concerned about ‘SHE,’ She was me. She wasn’t he. And even though he claimed to love me, love wasn’t tearing me up from the inside out. Truth is most men will never know how to love me. I am not regular, that much I know.

It went to show that I needed to dive deeper into the actions that made me digress in this manner. Common sense told me it was the mind that needed working first because that was the first to be destroyed. With the cheating, the lies, the disloyalty, the deception, the gaslighting. Had me creating an alternative personality or version of myself that was contrary to my natural self; because me in my element clearly wasn’t good enough for him. I mean he needed others right?

(On my blog, Coveted Archives Podcast and Youtube Channel I discuss exactly what the fuck that was like. I’m talking deep into gaslighting to the point you question your every goddamn move)

I digress…

I no longer give a fuck what his reason was. I’ve done it before too. I’m pretty sure he didn’t give a fuck about my reason then either. It was the guilt from cheating on the one man that could have been “the one”…it was the constant, repetitive stages of grief because those closest to me were leaving this earth. It left me to figure it all out. It was the empty promises and unrequited love from a man that promised I was his next. It was the friends who secretly didn’t want anything but to see me on their level… never above to care for them if they stayed below. It was the men claiming to be interested in my mom or married but checking for me. It was falling out of a 3rd story window at 3 years old; left with a Traumatic Brain Injury. Having to learn how to talk, walk and function all over again. It was the boy who’s head I slammed into the locker Junior year of High School because he called me a ‘nigger bitch.’ It was the writings on the bathroom wall threatening to violate the bitch who fucked my boyfriend Senior year too. It was Stage 1A cervical cancer.

Weight even a therapist couldn’t manage. I had so much pride in myself that I refused to give it to God. Thinking or assuming he couldn’t manage the damage. Hadn’t he managed it in the first place? If you’ve read thus far, you have witnessed a miracle. People don’t appreciate a miracle until they see it standing in front of them. And even then, what do you choose? Do you acknowledge and respect the miracle or do you disregard it? My flame retardant soul won’t allow your decision to affect my future. And clearly God hasn’t either.

She didn’t need to understand the meaning of life; it was enough to find someone who did, and then fall asleep in his arms and sleep as a child sleeps; knowing that someone stronger than you is protecting you from all evil and danger.

I became less concerned with how someone looked and more concerned with how they looked at me as I came into self over time. it was my waking up to the fact that I was repeatedly getting my heart broken by even the best looking of men. I was still crying over the GQ model…

There was always room for improvement in how I treated myself. I think if I really truly loved myself as much as I thought I did at certain times; I wouldn’t have tolerated the moments where I sat as a second option to someone. Is it true that they must go out into the world and discover the rarity in something special they once had and only then is it; that they realize the girl they once had was actually ‘the one’? I am exhausted just typing that sentence. It’s an even more exhausting thing to go through…mentally and physically. I have been there, done that a few times. I want to know he loves me when I look at him. I want to be able to feel like he’s there for all the right reasons. That’s what scares me. Someone who isn’t there for the right reasons.

Playing with my emotions was a theme with so many that I had gone on dates with or even briefly talked to. Mixed messages, stringing alongs, lies, deception, etc. (I have played with people’s emotions as well before; but I am not trying to paint from that perspective right now.) I think it hurt ten times as much when they would hide me. I felt that shit. Every. Single. Time. And it hurt like a motherfucker. What I didn’t realize at the time is that (the right) man for me would be proud to show me off. A REAL MAN would want to show me off. He wouldn’t WANT to hide me at home. And he would not be the type of person who felt like he owned me.

It wasn’t fair to me when I was treated like that. It really wasn’t. It was pretty fucked up honestly. I remember how my heart hurt after each time I met someone who was just plain awful when it came to being true and honest. And there were times that they themselves were so fucked up in their personal webs of lies that they just had me caught in it. I am no claim to having patience for nonsense and cut that shit quicker than a stray thread. But it’s about who you associate yourself with. There was one who was about 35 years old at the time and had no desire to have more in life. I was about 25. The difference in mindset was so vast. And because he did not want much for himself, he couldn’t understand my wanting more for my own personal achievement.

All he could understand is everything he wanted for himself. There was no further outlook into what we could want together or even what I wanted. I’d given just about everything I could give when it came to suppressing myself. I didn’t necessarily think it was easy, but I didn’t think it would take as much of a toll on me that it did . He wanted me to hide parts of myself that I was proud of. He wanted me to change pieces of me that I thought fit perfectly.

It wasn’t until recently that I confirmed it for the 129,543rd time that I am not meant to be with that person. Not now, and not ever.

Looking back, I just remember how naive I was to it. How accepting I was of him acting like he could find better. He would say it. Although I didn’t believe it; and still don’t. The evidence is clear. I was the best many of them ever had.

But those lessons carry me through everything I deal with now. And these are the men who apologize now and want to get back together with me. And wouldn’t you love to know what I tell them? I tell them no. I want better. I want someone who just knows he needs to hold on to me while he has me because he might never get that chance again. I don’t want someone who finally realized they made a mistake in how they treated me years prior, asking for a second chance. I’m glad for your sake that you matured and apologize. But I’m good on that beloved.

When there’s reciprocation, it’s called requited love. Requited love is a love that is returned. Unrequited would mean the contrary.

I had to look at this situation I had found myself in, with open eyes. I wasn’t really going to benefit by going deeper within myself while still blaming myself for the current circumstance I was in. I needed to appreciate how and why I had gotten here in the first place. I think that was really the first step to escaping this type of love that I felt.

The way I wanted him to love me was not returned how I wanted. It wasn’t mutual. That made it unrequited. No matter how many times I fantasized about us being together one day, it wasn’t a reality at the time. And it didn’t even honestly seem like something he wanted from me in the future.

I was left asking myself so many question afterwards.

I often think that I went through that to teach me how to recognize signs of someone with genuine interest. To be able to contrast versus no interest. But none of that mattered in the moment.

It seemed like he was perfect for me. We bonded over poetry. That was really the topic of our first date. That was the theme that night downtown. Although its been years since we met, the memories are still fresh in my mind. The feeling is still fresh in me. I still get butterflies when I think about him.

Ancient, distant, cold, unrequited love. And I fell hard…deep…slow. Which only made the pain so much more. It was the difference between being cut with a serrated knife versus a straight blade. The blade was dragging in my skin. I can see the flesh underneath. But it was like I didn’t care. If you imagined his “No, I’m not ready” being the knife; I kept going back to that feeling of love for him. Only to be cut open with the truth.

Most people back away from things that inflict pain on them. And he was in no way to blame. He was so honest with me. Told me what it was and I should have accepted it. The stronger, more level-headed me says that the vulnerable, disarrayed me was infatuated with his presence. Infatuated with his commitment to friendship with me. Infatuated with him.

I think infatuation can be both beneficial and beautiful when it’s mutual and I have had it be mutual. But we cannot choose who we fall in love with sometimes. I have been fortunate to have many loves in my lifetime. And they each came with their own lessons.

The lesson I learned form loving him and not receiving it in return is that my love is deep. And that can be something that someone knows, but whether the respect it is up to them. By my remaining true to myself and how I felt, I opened the door for him to be true and honest with me about how he felt for me.

So, for that lesson alone, I am forever grateful.

I had given it so much thought.
– El’Aundra Dolce –

So much of what I am is strong. I think given my complacent nature about many other things, and so amped up about what I’m strong about handling actually balances out. I can sit here and lie telling myself I am weak and I need to go harder, cry longer, and dig deeper. Because at the end of the day I am not built like any other woman that I have met. And other people know that and use it against me by betraying me in more ways than one. Because they know I am innocent. I am innocent of greed that calculates into negative. I am innocent of lustful attractions towards those who mistreat me. I am not completely sure it’s natural for people to say that to themselves. But for me it just comes naturally. I am sitting in a bed in a woman’s shelter. I have taken weeks and turned them into progress. I am moving into an apartment that will be considered my place of movement. The fact that I am able to sit and remain calculated in the bigger picture further proves my point.

There was a period in time recently where I didn’t have a cell phone and instead of being angry I was focusing in. I am still not getting my own personal life right if I am without a phone due to the people I am around the most. 

I couldn’t believe the girl that I thought was cool enough to leave alone around some of my most prize possessions would steal something from me. It was quite uncomfortable for me to continue to look at her. How irritating it was for me to go through. They then became suspect. My iPhone 7+ had the logicboard fail in it yesterday and I am without any of the funds needed to fix it… at least right now. I do however possess the skill and tools to fix it on my own without a large expense. I am going to go without a smartphone for the remainder of time I have until I am able to access my storage and get the tools needed to fix my broken iPhone. I will not be on social media other than to write. I am done. I need to center myself and the only way to do that is cut myself of every situation and person that is taking from me and draining me. I cant say that I haven’t tried to be patient and kind and reserved and modest in my efforts to be a good person. I have done all of those things. But the fact of the matter is that the more I continue to do for others without doing for myself, the more I am going to fail at my own hardships.

The Universe is telling me that if I don’t receive the message this time that I need to focus on myself and getting where I need and want to be personally; I will be stripped until I have nothing. And I will have done it because of my own fault. Because I am giving more to others than I am giving to myself. I am not here right now for them. I am not in Syracuse for them. I am here for my son. To claim my son because pain done to him is pain to me. And pain to me is beyond pain to him. It is killing him. If you have read anything about how I gave birth to my son, you would know that I love that little boy unconditionally.

Making a way out of here to be able to do everything that I need to do is the most important to me. I have been looking at apartments in specific areas and I want to be able to be close to those I know I can count on and can count on me. Now that I have my eye on an apartment, I will do what I have to do in order to get squared away with getting into it and making it to the next milestone.

I am ready.