The Dark Where You Can Breathe

The sun has gone down, and the mask you wore all day finally feels heavy enough to drop. You stand in the quiet of your own room, terrified that if you unfold your true shape, no one will recognize the person you have become.

The silence seems to agree with your fear, whispering that you have drifted too far from who you were supposed to be. But listen — there is a seeing that does not depend on your old name or your familiar face.

The light that lives inside you knew this shape before you ever tried to hide it. It is not surprised by your becoming.

It was waiting for you to stop pretending. You do not need to be recognized by the world to be known by the source.

The dark is not a place where you are lost; it is the only place where the real you can finally breathe.