<p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Why We Keep the People Who Hurt Us</p><p><br></p><p>(Even When We Know Better)</p><p><br></p><p>There’s a weird kind of magic in pain.</p><p><br></p><p>Not the romantic kind. The kind that makes you check your phone for someone who’s already forgotten you.</p><p>The kind that whispers, “Maybe if I was a little more chill... a little less emotional... they would’ve stayed.”</p><p><br></p><p>But here’s the thing no one really says out loud:</p><p><br></p><p>We don’t always want love.</p><p>Sometimes, we want familiarity.</p><p>And pain—especially the kind that looks like love—can feel familiar as hell.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>Truth Bomb #1: They Hurt You, But They Felt Like Home</p><p><br></p><p>Let’s be real.</p><p><br></p><p>You didn’t fall for their kindness. You fell for the comfort in the chaos.</p><p>The same kind of chaos you grew up in.</p><p>That emotional hide-and-seek. That feeling of needing to earn love.</p><p>They triggered your survival instincts—not your soul.</p><p><br></p><p>They mirrored a wound so old you forgot where it started.</p><p><br></p><p>And when it hurt, it didn’t feel wrong.</p><p>It felt like something you were built to survive.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>Truth Bomb #2: You Fell in Love With the Version You Built in Your Head</p><p><br></p><p>We keep people who hurt us because we didn’t fall in love with them.</p><p><br></p><p>We fell in love with:</p><p><br></p><p>The version of them we imagined</p><p><br></p><p>The potential we swore we saw</p><p><br></p><p>The dream they sold us in between apologies</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>That version was intoxicating.</p><p>But here’s the brutal truth: You can’t date someone’s potential.</p><p><br></p><p>You either love who they are, or you’re holding a ghost.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>Truth Bomb #3: You Thought the Pain Meant It Was Real</p><p><br></p><p>Let’s not pretend.</p><p><br></p><p>Some part of you thought the pain proved it mattered.</p><p><br></p><p>Like, “If it hurts this much, it must be love, right?”</p><p>Like movies taught us love means suffering.</p><p>Like songs told us heartbreak is just part of the passion.</p><p><br></p><p>But that’s not love.</p><p>That’s emotional gambling.</p><p>You’re spinning the wheel, praying the next version of them finally chooses you.</p><p><br></p><p>But they won’t. Not fully. Because they already know they don’t have to.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>Truth Bomb #4: You Didn’t Want Closure. You Wanted Control</p><p><br></p><p>We say we want closure. But let’s be honest:</p><p>We want a redo.</p><p>A comeback.</p><p>We want them to wake up, realize our worth, and beg us to stay.</p><p><br></p><p>But love doesn’t work like a Netflix rewrite.</p><p>No perfect scene. No last-minute monologue.</p><p>Just silence, space, and what we do next.</p><p><br></p><p>So we keep them—even if it’s just in our minds.</p><p>Because if we keep them, we don’t have to face the void.</p><p>And that void? It's scary.</p><p><br></p><p>But here’s the plot twist:</p><p>Peace feels like boredom when you’re addicted to survival mode.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>Truth Bomb #5: You Didn’t Stay Because You’re Weak. You Stayed Because You’re Wired</p><p><br></p><p>You’re not dumb.</p><p>You’re not pathetic.</p><p>You’re not desperate.</p><p><br></p><p>You’re human.</p><p><br></p><p>Your nervous system got attached to the emotional rollercoaster.</p><p>Your brain linked inconsistency with intensity.</p><p>And now stillness feels suspicious.</p><p><br></p><p>But you’re not stuck.</p><p>You’re waking up.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>Okay, So Now What?</p><p><br></p><p>You stop justifying their actions like it’s your fault.</p><p>You stop fantasizing about “what if” like it’s still on the table.</p><p>You stop romanticizing dysfunction and start craving peace.</p><p><br></p><p>You look in the mirror and say:</p><p>“They hurt me. I let them. But it ends here.”</p><p><br></p><p>You don’t need closure. You need clarity.</p><p>You don’t need them back. You need you back.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>The Plot Twist They Never Saw Coming?</p><p><br></p><p>You unlearn the idea that pain = love.</p><p>You walk away—not with a scream, but with silence.</p><p>You glow up emotionally.</p><p>You stop chasing ghosts and start building boundaries.</p><p><br></p><p>And one day, when they try to come back (because they will)—</p><p>you won’t be angry.</p><p>You’ll be over it.</p><p><br></p><p>Not because they changed.</p><p>But because you did.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>---</p><p><br></p><p>Because keeping someone who hurt you isn’t loyalty.</p><p>It’s self-abandonment.</p><p>And your comeback story deserves better!</p>
At the end of the month, we give out prizes in 3 categories: Best Content, Top Engagers and
Most Engaged Content.
Best Content
Top Engagers
Most Engaged Content
Best Content
We give out cash prizes to 7 people with the best insights in the past month. The 7 winners are picked
by an in-house selection process.
The winners are NOT picked from the leaderboards/rankings, we choose winners based on the quality, originality
and insightfulness of their content.
Top Engagers
For the Top Engagers Track, we award the top 3 people who engage the most with other user's content via
comments.
The winners are picked using the "Top Monthly Engagers" tab on the rankings page.
Most Engaged Content
The Most Engaged Content recognizes users whose content received the most engagement during the month.
We pick the top 3.
The winners are picked using the "Top Monthly Contributors" tab on the rankings page.
Here are a few other things to know for the Best Content track
1
Quality over Quantity — You stand a higher chance of winning by publishing a few really good insights across the entire month,
rather than a lot of low-quality, spammy posts.
2
Share original, authentic, and engaging content that clearly reflects your voice, thoughts, and opinions.
3
Avoid using AI to generate content—use it instead to correct grammar, improve flow, enhance structure, and boost clarity.
4
Explore audio content—high-quality audio insights can significantly boost your chances of standing out.
5
Use eye-catching cover images—if your content doesn't attract attention, it's less likely to be read or engaged with.
6
Share your content in your social circles to build engagement around it.
Contributor Rankings
The Rankings/Leaderboard shows the Top 20 contributors and engagers on TwoCents a monthly and all-time basis
— as well as the most active colleges (users attending/that attended those colleges)
The all-time contributors ranking is based on the Contributor Score, which is a measure of all the engagement and exposure a contributor's content receives.
The monthly contributors ranking tracks performance of a user's insights for the current month. The monthly and all-time scores are calcuated DIFFERENTLY.
This page also shows the top engagers on an all-time & monthly basis.
All-time Contributors
All-time Engagers
Top Monthly Contributors
Top Monthly Engagers
Most Active Colleges
Contributor Score
The all-time ranking is based on users' Contributor Score, which is a measure of all
the engagement and exposure a contributor's content receives.
Here is a list of metrics that are used to calcuate your contributor score, arranged from
the metric with the highest weighting, to the one with the lowest weighting.
1
Subscriptions received
2
Tips received
3
Comments (excluding replies)
4
Upvotes
5
Views
6
Number of insights published
Engagement Score
The All-time Engagers ranking is based on a user's Engagement Score — a measure of how much a
user engages with other users' content via comments and upvotes.
Here is a list of metrics that are used to calcuate the Engagement Score, arranged from
the metric with the highest weighting, to the one with the lowest weighting.
1
A user's comments (excluding replies & said user's comments on their own content)
2
A user's upvotes
Monthly Score
The Top Monthly Contributors ranking is a monthly metric indicating how users respond to your posts, not just how many you publish.
We look at three main things:
1
How strong your best post is —
Your highest-scoring post this month carries the most weight. One great post can take you far.
2
How consistent the engagement you receive is —
We also look at the average score of all your posts. If your work keeps getting good reactions, you get a boost.
3
How consistent the engagement you receive is —
Posting more helps — but only a little.
Extra posts give a small bonus that grows slowly, so quality always matters more than quantity.
In simple terms:
A great post beats many ignored posts
Consistently engaging posts beat one lucky hit
Spamming low-engagement posts won't help
Tips, comments, and upvotes from others matter most
This ranking is designed to reward
Thoughtful, high-quality posts
Real engagement from the community
Consistency over time — without punishing you for posting again
The Top Monthly Contributors leaderboard reflects what truly resonates, not just who posts the most.
Top Monthly Engagers
The Top Monthly Engagers ranking tracks the most active engagers on a monthly basis
Here is what we look at
1
A user's monthly comments (excluding replies & said user's comments on their own content)
2
A user's monthly upvotes
Most Active Colleges
The Most Active Colleges ranking is a list of the most active contributors on TwoCents, grouped by the
colleges/universities they attend(ed)
Here is what we look at
1
All insights posted by contributors that attended a particular school (at both undergraduate or postgraduate levels)
2
All comments posted by contributors that attended a particular school (at both undergraduate or postgraduate levels) —
excluding replies
Below is a list of badges on TwoCents and their designations.
Comments