Page 194 of A Solid Guide to Surviving a Situationship

Maybe some people leave fingerprints on your life that never completely disappear.

But Southside would never truly belong to my grief as long as I still had people willing to sit through the dark with me until I found my way back.

And over the past year, I learned a lot.

About boys.

About exes.

About friendships.

About loneliness.

About the terrifying ways people can love each other and still fail each other completely.

But most of all, I learned about situationships.

How they blur lines.

How they feed hope.

How they convince you to build homes inside uncertainty.

How they can ruin you if you forget yourself inside them.

And somehow, after all the heartbreak and all the healing, I finally understood the question that started everything:

Why does a three-month situationship sometimes hurt more than relationships that lasted years?

The answer isn’t simple, but I learned it the hard way.

So if you’re reading this, or watching my TikTok on your phone while waiting for someone who keeps making you question your worth…

This one’s for you.

A Solid Guide to Surviving a Situationship.

*A SOLID GUIDE TO SURVIVING A SITUATIONSHIP*

10. If it hurts you, you should say something

Because resentment is literally just unspoken hurt wearing a fake smile. The longer you swallow things to ‘keep the peace,’ the more your body starts carrying stress your mouth was supposed to release three weeks ago. Your chest will remember what your mouth refused to say.

Also, don’t swallow if not for the wrong person.

I’m kidding, kids.

Don’t ever swallow.

Gosh…. Wait, do you spit or…? Never mind.

9. Inconsistency is already an answer

If someone likes you on Monday, disappears on Tuesday, calls you ‘baby’ on Wednesday, and acts emotionally unavailable on Thursday, then posts a thirst trap by Friday, congratulations—you’re dating a weather forecast.

And babe, if their energy toward you keeps changing depending on their mood, availability, or loneliness, that is not confusion. That is inconsistency.

People who truly want you rarely make you guess where you stand every five business days.