The Splinter Theory

Imagine getting a tiny splinter stuck underneath your skin…

It’s small enough that you can ignore it. So you do.

You keep living. Working. Dating. Laughing. Moving forward.

Until something brushes against it… and suddenly, it hurts all over again.

That’s what some relationships leave behind. The person leaves. But something from them stays.

Maybe it’s the fear that everyone eventually leaves.

Maybe it’s wondering why you weren’t enough. Or learning to expect betrayal from people who never betrayed you.

And eventually, you stop realizing you’re protecting an old wound. You just call it “who I am now.”

So someone new gets close… and accidentally touches the place that still hurts.

You pull away. Get defensive. Overthink. Assume the worst. Not because of what they did…

…But because they touched something someone else left behind.

This is why moving on isn’t always the same thing as healing. You can stop missing someone and still carry what they taught you to fear.

Sometimes healing means asking: “Is this person hurting me…” “…or did they just touch the splinter?”

The person who wounded you may be gone. But don’t let the splinter they left behind decide how everyone else gets to love you.