For a long time, I tried to control how things turned out. I wanted people to understand me. I wanted the ones who mattered to stay. And when they didn't, I would replay it over and over, trying to figure out what I could have said or done differently. What I've slowly learned is that I can't make anyone understand me. And I can't make anyone stay. That was a hard thing to accept. For a while it felt like giving up. But it turned out to be the opposite. All the energy I was s