I Forgive, But I Still Want You to Know You Hurt Me

Sometimes forgiveness feels like swallowing something sharp.

You do it because you know it’s right — because you’ve outgrown bitterness, because you want peace, because you understand everyone is human and flawed. You whisper, I forgive you. And maybe you even mean it. But underneath, there’s this ache that refuses to quiet. A need that still lingers — I just wish you knew what you did to me.

It’s not vengeance. It’s not even anger anymore. It’s that ache for recognition — that small voice inside whispering, Please see me. Because forgiveness without acknowledgment can feel like trying to heal a wound that no one else admits exists. You can clean it, bandage it, even tell yourself it doesn’t hurt anymore, but deep down, you still feel the tenderness when someone brushes against it.

Sometimes I wonder if the hardest part of letting go isn’t the pain itself, but the silence around it.

How easily people move on — while you’re still standing in the ruins, trying to make sense of what happened. You want to tell them, You hurt me. And it wasn’t small. It wasn’t silly. It mattered.

You want to say, I forgave you, but I also need you to know that it cost me something to do that.

Because when we forgive quietly, we often carry the weight of being misunderstood.

They go on believing it wasn’t that deep. That you’re fine. That it all just rolled off your back. But it didn’t. You bled for that forgiveness. You broke open for it. You wrestled your pride, your anger, your longing for an apology that never came — and somehow found your way to peace anyway.

I used to think needing acknowledgment made me petty.

That wanting someone to see what they did meant I hadn’t healed. But now I realize — it’s human. We don’t just want to forgive; we want to be seen forgiving. We want our pain to have witnesses. Because pain without witness feels invisible.

So no — I’m not angry. I’m just… unfinished.

I forgive you, but a part of me still wants you to know that it hurt. That I didn’t deserve it. That I’m trying to be better, softer, freer — but I still wish, just once, you’d look me in the eyes and say, I see you. I’m sorry.

Maybe that’s the truest form of forgiveness — when you stop waiting for that moment, yet still allow your heart to stay open.

Not because they said the right words, but because you chose to live lighter — even without them understanding the weight you carried.

Still, if I’m being honest…

I forgive you, but yes — I still want you to know you hurt me.