When the Storm Hit, I Saw Who Truly Stood With Me

Life has a way of revealing truths that remain hidden during our calmest seasons. When everything is smooth, people show us the version of themselves they’re proud of , the version they want us to see. But it’s during the storms, the unpredictable upheavals, that their real character quietly rises to the surface.

I learned this in the most painful way.

When COVID hit, the world felt like it was falling apart. Jobs were lost, businesses collapsed, routines vanished, and families everywhere were forced into survival mode. We faced a financial downturn, and like many others, we were shaken. But what hurt the most was not the loss of incomeit was the loss of someone I once believed would stand beside me no matter what.

My husband chose the lockdown as an opportunity to take me out of his life.

A time when the world was shutting down and fear was everywhere, he chose to shut the door on me too. When I needed partnership, he walked away. When I needed strength, he withdrew his. When the storm hit us, he didn’t stay to rebuild he used the storm as an exit route.

And that is when I realised a truth that became my turning point:

Someone who abandons you in their own storm will never be able to weather yours.
Someone who is not loyal to themselves can never be loyal to you.

For a long time, I blamed myself.
Was I not enough?
Was I too much?
Did I fail, or was I the reason?

But with time, as the dust settled, I realised something deeper: His decision had nothing to do with my worth and everything to do with his own inability to face life, responsibility, and truth.

Crisis doesn’t create character it reveals it.
A strong soul stands beside you, even shaking.
A weak soul escapes, even when you are holding on.

What he did was abandonment, yes. But it was also clarity.

It showed me:

Who he truly was behind the façade

What he feared facing

How shallow the foundation really had been

How deeply I had been carrying the emotional load alone


And in that painful realisation, something unexpected happened:
I found myself.

I learned that I could survive what I never imagined surviving.
I learned that I could rebuild with my own hands, my own energy, my own strength.
I learned that love does not mean losing yourself for someone who never knew how to value you.

Most importantly, I learned that being left behind doesn’t mean you are unworthy it means you were meant to walk forward without the dead weight that was holding you down.

Today, when I look back, I no longer see abandonment as a wound. I see it as a door that was necessary to close. Some people exit your life the moment responsibility enters because they were never meant to be part of your destiny beyond the easy days.

The storm didn’t break me.
It broke the illusion.
And from that truth, I rebuilt a stronger, wiser version of myself.

To anyone going through a season of loss or betrayal, remember this:

Those who stand with you only in sunshine were never your companions.
Those who walk away during the storm were never meant to walk into your future.
And those who stay those rare souls are the ones who truly understand what love, loyalty, and partnership mean.

I now live with this quiet strength:
If you leave me during my hard time, you don’t deserve me in my good time.
And if you abandon me during your own uncertainties, you were never trustworthy enough to walk this life with me.