13/06/2025
💜
That person who folded their dreams to fit in others’ shadows, who swallowed their truth to avoid ripples; they were a survival costume, not your essence. A mask worn to navigate wars you did not start, in a world that rewarded your silence and punished your spark.
Growth is not betrayal. It is the natural order of things, the caterpillar does not apologise for becoming a butterfly. The snake does not mourn its shed skin. The sapling does not beg forgiveness for splitting the pot that once contained it. So why should you linger in roles that demanded your silence, your smallness, your endless accommodation? You were not born to be digestible.
Narcissistic systems thrive on your compliance, your fear of “rocking the boat.” But your visibility is a revolution. Every time you choose authenticity over approval, every time you speak your mind without sanding down its edges, every time you take up space unapologetically, you dismantle their fragile control. Their discomfort is not your responsibility, it is proof you’re evolving beyond their grip.
Let them call you “selfish.” Let them squirm at your newfound boundaries, your refusal to shrink, your audacity to prioritise your peace. Your loyalty is no longer for sale to those who loved you only when you were convenient, when you were quiet, when you were less you.
This is your reclamation. Of the quirks you hid to avoid mockery. The passions you muted to seem “reasonable.” The voice you dulled to keep the peace. The days you dressed in their expectations like a straight jacket, smiling through the suffocation. You are not here to be palatable. You are here to be alive; fully, fiercely, unedited. To grow roots where you choose, to bloom in colours that startle, to let your presence be a declaration: ”I exist for myself first.”
Healing is not a solitary act. When you outgrow the cages they built, you hold the door open for others still trapped. You become living proof that survival is not the pinnacle, thriving is.
