I originally posted this on my Facebook about 2 months ago, and due to several people wanting me to post it here, that's what I'm doing. This is my basic philosophy on life, and despite the length, I promise that it's worth reading.

I feel like there are some people in this world who take other people for granted too much and don't understand what it means when someone truly cares about them. Now, I understand that you would cut someone out of your life if all they ever did was hurt you emotionally and disappoint you. But what I definitely don't agree with is closing yourself off to almost everyone, including people who actually care about you and want to get to know you, just because of the experiences that you've had with the wrong people in the past. There is still such a thing as a person who genuinely cares about the people they associate with. I'm living proof that those kinds of people still exist. Not everyone you ever meet is going to take advantage of you. Some people genuinely care about how you feel and want to see you be happy and will do a lot of things to help you with being happy. But if you're too close-minded to realize that, you're gonna end up hurting yourself whether you realize it or not, by missing out on getting close with someone who is extremely loyal to people they care about and would always be there for you. That's the type of person that I am when I'm close with someone. If we get to know each other, you're risking literally nothing, because once we're close I'll never abandon you. And it's not like I'm the only person who has this extreme level of loyalty to people. There are some bad people in this world who only care about their own feelings, but if you judge everyone because of the wrong people you've associated with before, your mind isn't opened enough. And you'll make things way worse if you push away people who actually want you to be happy. You're hurting people who try to help you, and you're hurting yourself by not letting them help you. I know that it definitely hurts me when I get pushed away by people when I try to help them be happy. Don't do that to people, because someday you'll push them away and then you might just end up losing them forever. You don't need to live a life where you constantly worry about people using you, taking advantage of you, abandoning you, etc., as long as you trust the correct people. And just because I'm a trustworthy and caring person, it doesn't mean that I'm weak. It means that I'm mature enough to have empathy for people and not do things to them that I would hate to have done to me. I try to make other people happy because being happy is the main purpose of life, and life is way too short to not be happy. And I'm not the only person in the world who thinks this way, either. So, if you read all of this, then no matter who you are, I hope that it's made you think about how much you open yourself up to people who care, and I also hope that if you have issues doing that, it won't be so hard for you anymore. Some people don't care, but you just have to find the ones who actually do, and they're the only ones who you'll ever truly need. And if someone decides to care about you when they don't even need to, you should feel special and you should be grateful enough about it to at least care about them, too. Those people who just refuse to give up on you no matter what happens are the people who you need in your life whether you think so or not.