As a Nurse, I Was Assigned to Treat the Woman Who Made My Teenage Years a Living Hell – When She Recovered, She Told Me, ‘You Should Resign Immediately’

After he left, I sat in the chair by the window for a short while.

I looked at the empty bed and thought about how much of my life I had spent shrinking so that other people would feel comfortable. In school. In jobs. In friendships. In my marriage, even.

“No more,” I whispered. “Nobody gets to prop up their ego by making me feel small. Not anymore.”

Then I straightened my scrubs and went to the next patient. Margaret was gone, hopefully for good this time, but if I did ever run into her again, I was certain of one thing.

She would not run me down again. Maybe she’d try, but I would not let her win.

“Nobody gets to prop up their ego by making me feel small.”