We Don’t Regret the Person, We Regret the Illusion

When a hopeless love ends, the ache isn’t really about the person—it’s about the illusion. The dream that maybe, one day, they would choose us back. The story we told ourselves about what could be if only the timing, the courage, or the circumstances were different.

What we mourn is not them, but the fantasy: the parallel life where love was mutual, the hope that never had ground to stand on.

And yet, when the illusion breaks, clarity begins. We see reality as it is, not as we wished it to be—and in that truth, we find our way back to ourselves.

In the end, we don’t regret the person. We regret the illusion of a love that was never truly ours.

With love,
Marine Sélénée