Alexa Daskalakis

But I Stayed

Where endurance ends and honesty begins.

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I stayed.
When it was clear there would be no outcome.
No title.
No home.
No forward motion.

I stayed through the seasons that asked me not to.
Through the days that quietly confirmed
this wasn’t going anywhere.

I stayed, not because it was noble—
but because I hadn’t yet accepted
that it never would be.

You don’t get points for that.
You don’t get credit.
It’s not loyalty.
It’s just refusal to admit
you were already on your own.