For years, I bent and reshaped myself to fit the world around me. I adjusted my tone, softened my edges, and silenced the parts of me that felt too bold, too wild, too much. I learned how to serve my partner and people around me, do what others wanted – acceptable, likable, easy. I wanted to make it nice and comfortable for others and wanted to belong even if it asked me to abandon pieces of my soul.
But the truth has a way of making itself known. No matter how much I tried to suppress it, my inner voice never stopped whispering. At first, it was subtle – a feeling in my gut, a lingering sadness, a quiet discomfort in spaces where I was meant to feel safe. Over time, the whispers grew louder, turning into an undeniable knowing: I had lost myself in the pursuit of belonging.
The cost of fitting in was too high. I had traded authenticity for approval, truth for comfort, and power for acceptance. Even though I felt the discomfort in my relationship, tuned down my desires and adjusted my needs – the widening gap became just wider and deeper until my relationship shattered into pieces and the emptiness of abandonment was staring straight into my eyes.
There comes a moment when staying silent becomes unbearable. A moment when the weight of suppressing our truth is heavier than the fear of speaking it. For me, that moment came when I realized that in making everyone else comfortable, I had abandoned myself.
Speaking my truth felt like rebellion – an act of defiance against the mold I had forced myself into for years. And yet, it was the most natural thing in the world. The moment I stopped hiding, I could finally breathe. The moment I stood in my truth – raw, vulnerable, unfiltered – I felt an unfamiliar but undeniable sensation I know so well: the sweet breeze of freedom.
Freedom to be and to speak. Even when I express things that not everyone wants to hear. Some are confronted by truth, by authenticity, by the courage to be unapologetically oneself. I see the discomfort in their eyes, hear it in their words, feel it in their distance. But I feel that is ok. Because for the first time, I am not betraying myself to make others comfortable.
There is a deep-rooted fear in all of us: the fear of being alone. Of being cast out, unseen, unloved. This fear kept me bound for years, convincing me to shrink, to conform, to stay quiet. But what I didn’t realize then was that I was already alone – because I wasn’t truly with myself.
True belonging isn’t found in external acceptance. It is found in radical self-acceptance. In standing firm in our truth, even when it shakes the world around us. Even when it leaves us abandoned by a partner, friends, or community, and we find ourselves truly standing alone. In that moment, we become rooted in ourselves. And from that place, we attract those who see us, who value us, who love us – not for the version of ourselves we perform to be, but for who we truly are.
Power has been distorted by the world around us. We’ve been taught that power is force, dominance, control. To be powerful, we must be loud, commanding, and popular. But I have come to know a different kind of power – one that is soft, real, and deeply honest.
True power is not about being liked. It’s not about seeking approval. It’s about knowing who you are, standing in your truth, and refusing to shrink for anyone. It’s about embodying your essence so fully that the need for external validation dissolves.
This is the feminine power I am stepping into. A power that doesn’t need to be explained or justified. A power that is rooted in authenticity, in truth, in deep inner knowing.
For so long, I believed that my worth depended on external factors – how much I achieved, how much I was loved, how well I fit in. But now I know, and I can feel it in my entire being: my truth is enough. I am enough.
I no longer seek permission to be loved. I no longer need to be validated, accepted, or understood by others. My existence, in its fullest expression, is enough. And when I speak, create, and share my gifts with the world, I do it from this place of authenticity – real, raw, and free.
There is power in saying No.
Or enough is enough.
Enough of silencing myself to keep the peace.
Enough of ignoring what I know to be true.
Enough of betraying myself for the sake of holding onto something that isn’t holding me back.
There is liberation in speaking my truth, even when it’s inconvenient, even when it disrupts expectations, even when it means letting go of something I once thought I wanted. It’s powerful to recognize when something is no longer serving me, and in allowing myself to walk away when staying means self-betrayal.And I am finally, deeply, truly free.