Airtime

This isn’t a love story, just a little love note to all the people who write here because they’re pining for someone who used them, cheated on them, or used them to cheat on someone else with…
I wrote my story on here a long time ago about meeting a man, a married man who said he was separated but actually got her pregnant instead. Although I’m over him, whenever something hasn’t worked out with someone new, my head goes back to ruminating on all the questions he didn’t answer. The pandemic was a get out of jail free card for cheaters who could hide away. 
But he isn’t the only person who’s chatted me up/slid in my DM’s when they’re already in a long term relationship. 
I told a new friend at work I seem to attract them (and that the young, free and single ones can’t even commit to a date half the time - go figure).
My new work friend, who’s had a similar situation themselves, said I’m looking at it wrong. That those, like us, who attract people who cheat and lie actually attract ‘hurt people who want to be healed.’ 

It’s one of the wisest things I’ve heard. 

So if you’ve been made a fool of by someone, it’s not because you’re a mug, or you’re ‘only good for one thing’ while they stick with their miserable relationship…
They see joy in you that they haven’t seen in their own lives in a long time. They see you live life true to yourself and take leaps of faith they’ll never dare take. If they did cross the line and cheat, they got a taste of what life could be. 
But by this point, they’re a cheat. And somewhere deep down feel they don’t deserve freedom. So they stay. And they hurt you because hurt people, hurt people. And it can be so tempting to seek revenge sometimes.

But ultimately, it’s better to keep your joy, your free spirit, and not stoop to their level because one day, someone will see what they saw in you, someone single, who’ll know that what you have is worth holding onto because you’re sincere, and deep, and fun, and moral, and they’ll grab life by the balls as much as you do.

Sincerely, 
A woman who doesn’t know much, but knows we’re all better than the men we’ve given airtime on this page.