I was proud of how much I could endure.

And it very nearly killed me, because the terrible secret about endurance is that it changes nothing.

Enduring an abuser does not soften them; it teaches them what they can get away with.

Enduring exploitation does not earn you eventual gratitude; it establishes the baseline they will only demand you exceed.

Every year I endured the Miller family taught them, precisely, that I would endure a little more, and so they asked for a little more, and I gave it, and called the giving strength.

Endurance is not strength.