A Note to Self

Stop.

Let your shoulders drop away from your ears.

Unclench the quiet tension in your jaw.

Inhale—

slowly, until the air fills every tight corner of your chest.

Exhale—

let go of the noise that was never yours to carry.

You have a place here.

The ground beneath you is not borrowed;

it holds you without asking for proof.

It does not demand payment or attention.

You do not belong to the ones who pull hidden strings,

who twist words into subtle cages,

or dissect your spirit on a sterile table.

You were never meant to be psychoanalyzed into submission,

handed a script of right and wrong by those who pretend to hold the ink.

When you feel pressure,

know that it is a force designed to bend what was made to stand tall.

Step back into your own light.

Ignore the ones that talk and talk and talk.

Listen only to the quiet compass humming beneath your ribs,

and do what you already know,

in the deepest chamber of your heart,

is good,

and holy,

and beautiful.