If Being Clingy Means I Want Real Connection—Then Fuck It, I'm Clingy.

Clingy. The word hits like an insult, whispered with a condescending smirk or lobbed like a grenade in a fight. It’s what people say when they want to discredit your desire, shame your sensitivity, and position themselves as the calm, rational, emotionally “evolved” one.

And most of the time, it’s not even about neediness. It’s about nerve. It’s about having the courage to ask for closeness in a world that glorifies detachment. It’s about caring enough to reach for someone, even when you know they might not reach back. It’s about refusing to play games in order to appear unbothered. And let me tell you—being unbothered is overrated.