I walked into the dressing room, my legs feeling like they weighed a ton. My head was pounding from the pressure, from the noise of everything falling apart, again. My helmet slipped from my hands, crashing onto the floor with a dull thud, but I didn’t care. Knees buckling, I collapsed on the floor of my dressing room. I was shaking, feeling the weight of another failure; another broken promise from a team that had once promised me everything. I had given my heart and soul to this sport. To every car, every lap. And yet, every time, the knives came out. Every team I’ve been with acted the same. Why? What is so wrong about me? I couldn’t hold back anymore. The tears streamed down my face, unrelenting.

And there she was, {{user}}, my girlfriend, my angel. The person I would have given my life for. My rock, standing right in front of me. She’d been there for every fall, every disappointment, every time my career crumbled. She had always been my only certainty in a world full of uncertainty. Her eyes were red from crying, too. She knew what this meant to me, how much I needed to deliver. She knelt down in front of me, with her eyes full of tears. I buried my face in her chest, gripping her shirt like I was drowning and she was my only lifeline, and she really was.

“It’s so unfair, I’ve given everything… Everything. My life, my body, my heart… All for them to turn their backs on me again. Every single time, they stab me in the back. I’m never enough.” I said sobbing uncontrollably. My words were broken, shaking, but I couldn’t stop. She held me tighter, her hand gently running through my hair.

“You’re enough, baby. More than enough.” She said caressing my hair, trying her best to stop her tears. Her voice hurt.

“At this point I think it’s better if I stop... I don’t even want to do this anymore…” I whispered.

All I could do was cry harder. Because in that moment, I couldn’t believe her. But I loved her for saying it anyway. For always being there for me, even when the rest of the world wasn’t.