Fully Inhabited
Written for Tanya Lei’s “Who Do You Actually Want to Be?” Challenge
I want to be someone who does not abandon himself when things get uncomfortable.
Not for approval.
Not for ease.
Not for the illusion of peace.
I want to be the version of me who stays present when my chest tightens, who doesn’t rush to explain, soften, or translate myself into something more palatable. I want to be honest even when honesty makes the room colder.
I want to be someone who trusts his inner weather. The sudden calm. The unexpected storm. The long stretches of silence where nothing needs to be fixed. I want to stop interrogating my instincts as if they are suspects instead of signals.
I want to be precise with my energy. Careful where I place it. Unapologetic when I retrieve it. I want my boundaries to feel less like walls and more like skin. Sensitive. Alive. Responsive.
I want to be someone who can sit alone without narrating himself, without reaching for noise, without needing proof that he exists. Someone who doesn’t perform depth, but lives it quietly.
I want to be rooted. Not rigid. Curious without being scattered. Soft without being erased.
Most of all, I want to be at home inside myself.
No audience.
No permission.
No becoming.
Just me, fully inhabited.
*******
About the Creator
Aarsh Malik
Poet and storyteller who believes in the quiet power of words.
My first book, QUIET FLAME
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