For Anyone Who Every Confused Endurance with Love

Some stories are easy to recognize as love stories.

They arrive loud. Urgent. All-consuming.

Candace’s story isn’t one of those.

Hers is quieter. Slower. Harder to name while you’re living inside it.

For a long time, Candace believed that staying meant strength. That loyalty meant love. That enduring something difficult was proof she was doing the right thing. Walking away felt like failure—like giving up, like admitting she wasn’t enough to make it work.

But sometimes what we call love is really just survival.

And sometimes the bravest thing a person can do isn’t holding on—it’s choosing themselves when no one else is asking them to.

Candace’s journey isn’t about dramatic exits or grand declarations. It’s about the internal reckoning that happens when you finally realize your life shouldn’t cost you your sense of self. It’s about the quiet courage it takes to leave something familiar, even when it’s hurting you, because you’ve finally learned that you are worth more than endurance.

This part of *Terms of Surrender* is for anyone who has ever stayed too long.

For anyone who mistook effort for love.

For anyone who needed permission—spoken or unspoken—to let go.

Candace’s story isn’t about staying.

It’s about what comes after.

Terms of Surrender — coming April 2026.