the silence that follows after you successfully fake a smile and they walk away, leaving you alone with the exhaustion of the performance

The Light Waits Behind Your Mask

The door clicks shut. The smile drops from your face like a heavy coat you no longer have the strength to hold.

Now the silence rushes in to fill the space where the performance used to be. It feels vast.

It feels like proof that no one really saw you. But the light does not need your energy to exist.

It was there before you put the mask on. It is there now that you have taken it off.

You do not have to perform for the darkness. You just have to be still.

The exhaustion is real, but it is not the whole story. There is a peace waiting for you that does not ask you to speak.

A peace that knows you are already known.

Drawing from

John, Gospel of Thomas

Verses

John 14:1

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