“Ms Oxford”

You cannot live your life waiting for that version of (insert person) to be the one who shows up every time or when they say that they will.

That is the difference between hope and self-abandonment.

Hope says:
“I believe people can change.”

Self-abandonment says:
“I’ll keep getting hurt until they do.”

And those are not the same thing.

A person can have wonderful qualities and treat you like rubbish.

The first does not cancel the second.
The second hurts precisely because the first exists.

If someone was consistently being awful to you leaving would be obvious.
The sadness comes with knowing that a person is generally amazing and is not being so with you at the moment.

Seeing the good in someone is not the same thing as volunteering to be their punching bag.